


A change in a moment

by pinkytoothless011



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And Jim is not the Trollhunter, Avocado Dad (Trollhunters), F/M, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Kanjigar still dies, Original Character(s), Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Trollhunter! Strickler, blinky is a good friend, grumpy old goat vendel, no idea what i am doing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2020-04-30 23:32:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 84,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19162324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkytoothless011/pseuds/pinkytoothless011
Summary: AU where Barbara and Walter are married, Jim is their biological son and Walter becomes a changeling due to a magical occurrence that is purely coincidental.Walter Strickler enjoys his life. he has a wonderful wife and son, a good job and peace in a quiet town located somewhere in California.Until everything goes to hell after meeting a huge stone skinned monster and has an odd reaction to a unusualgem...Introduced to a civilisation under his very feet full of troll's, Walter has a lot of new things to deal with, number one on his list trying to survive in a strange body and not being eaten by Bular.





	1. chapter 1

“Blinkous Galadrigal!” Vendel’s stern voice rang out in the heartstone’s inner chamber, startling the scholarly troll who had been engrossed in a thick, musty smelling book, leaning against the mossy backed Aaarrrgghh who opened one large green eye, saw who it was and immediately rose up, causing Blinky to fall backwards and hit his head on an outcrop of rock. ”OW!” Blinky glared at his companion. 

“Aaarrrgghh my dear fellow, next time warn me when you do that.” His words were gentle and only slightly reproachful.   
“Sorry.” The Krubera rumbled softly. Then Blinky remembered that the elder of trollmarket was still standing there, scanning the mess of books covering his table and narrowing his eyes at the sight of a spilled potion that was still slightly smoking. “What have you done to my inner sanctum? The library suddenly not good enough anymore? Do you always have to ruin my peace all the time?” The elder emphasized this with a thud of his heartstone staff, glowering at the troll before him. “And none of your pitiable excuses.”  
“They are not excuses, I speak only the truth” Blinky complained defensively.  
“Oh really? Then how did my healing potion break then? Vendel said pointing to the mess near the table.   
”Ah, that. Um would you believe these gnomes always causing mischief and mayhem.” Blinky waved his arms around and Vendel sighed, at least he hadn’t blamed him. “Or it may have been you, in your old age I’m sure you may have tipped it over and not noticed.”  
“BLINKOUS! If you really think I wouldn’t notice something like that then you really are the most idiotic troll ever to exist.” Vendel’s glare could turn to stone even the most foolish troll yet Blinky still stood, frustratingly not a pile of rubble. Aaarrrgghh then spoke up “Sorry Vendel. Will go outside now.” The large troll grabbed Blinky and made for the doorway, the scholar shouting in surprise and irritation. Sighing in relief Vendel savoured the silence of the chamber, sitting in his chair with a huff, the elder of trollmarket shut his eyes.  
Blinky and Aaarrrgghh headed away from the crowded, bustling streets of trollmarket and away from the glorious sight of the heartstone which sent warm pulses of energy to all the trolls within its sight. Blinky smiled, this was his home and he loved everyone in it, even that grumpy old goat, not that he would ever dare say that to his face. Blinky did not want a death wish. “Come Aaarrrgghh we should make our egress.”  
“Egg cress?” The Krubera said, confusion clearly evident on his face.  
“No, egress. To go out or leave a place.” Blinky stated patiently. Aaarrrgghh raised a brow sceptically as the two old friends slowly made their way out. Climbing up the blue, crystal staircase. Once at the top Blinky withdrew from one of his many pockets a horngazel, drawing an arc on the stone wall pressing one of his hands into the middle of the arc causing cracks to form around were he had placed it, the arc collapsed inwards in a swirl of magic as the friends cautiously came out from under Arcadia’s bridge. “Where now?” Aaarrrgghh said.  
“Well we could go to the dumps and see if we can find anything interesting.”  
“What if Bular there?” Aaarrrgghh rumbled with a shiver.  
“He hasn’t been seen by the Troll hunter in weeks, why would he turn up now?” Blinky dismissed the notion with a wave of his two upper arms.  
“Have to be careful.” His large companion warned.  
“Oh come on Aaarrrgghh, what could possibly happen we go out all the time.” And with that the blue troll started walking, Aaarrrgghh trailing behind him slowly, worrying about what might await them at the dumps. With a huff of breath he gazed up at the sky, stars sparkling coldly at the mortal creatures below went about their business. Sniffing, the Krubera took off after his slightly erratic friend.

The rapidly fading day sent thin bars of light across the history test paper, a rather angry looking ‘F’ plastered across it. A fountain pen laying discarded across it. Walter rubbed his temples softly. Marking papers was incredibly tedious, but it had to be done, unless he wanted angry parents complaining about why they didn’t their child’s latest test results. And he had promised Barbara he would be back at a decent time. Groaning inwardly, he reached inside his blazer pocket and sent a text to her saying he would probably, definitely, be coming later. He got a message back almost immediately, he could feel her disappointment through the text. After a long shift at the hospital she at least had Walter and Jim to look forward to seeing. But he could always finish it tomorrow, no one would notice if he did it at break and lunch…

Mind made up, Walter stood up and walked out of his office, locking the door firmly behind him. One night he had left it open only to find it ransacked by some sort of animal, probably raccoons.  
Walter walked along the corridor, the dark making the empty school seem eerie. So when coach Lawrence came around the bend suddenly with a rather loud greeting, Walter nearly jumped a foot, giving a highly undignified yelp of surprise, he had thought he was the only one left in the building. Apparently not.  
“What are you still doing here?” He demanded, trying to regain his composure.  
“Um. I had to make sure all the gym equipment was in good shape.” There was an awkward silence and then he added, “Sorry about spooking you there, you must have leapt a mile straight up into the air!”  
“Yes. Just don’t do that again please.” Walter sighed.  
“Yeah, sure thing Strickler, goodnight then!” He stood there for a minute then abruptly turned on his heel and marched off, back to the gymnasium. Rolling his eyes Walter set off for the exit.

He managed to get out of the school and remembered that his car had a puncture and he would have to walk back home. He groaned, by now it was pitch black and he could barely see. Oh well, he would take the back route through the alleyway, it was quicker, even though it was not maintained as well as the main street. Walking rapidly Walter turned left and made his way down the alley, neatly sidestepping a nasty green goo that was splattered all over the floor.

He would have probably made it back home in ten minutes if he hadn’t seen the gemstone, but then things would have happened very differently. In that moment of time everything changed for the human Walter Strickler.

The only reason he stopped was the fact a green light was flashing into his eye. Squinting, he noticed something odd nestled in-between one of the dumpster rubbish, a dazzling point of green light. Perhaps from a shattered glass bottle, or perhaps not, as he curiously reached out and firmly grasped the object with a hand. It was a gem, forest green and the size of his fist, it sat in his cupped hands and seemed to pulse like a heartbeat. Strange, but it looked incredibly valuable. Walter turned it over in his hands, squinting he could make out minuscule writing curling around the edges of the gem, faintly glowing. It was man-made then-but still looked very old, Bronze Age perhaps. So maybe the best thing to do was sell it.

His thoughts were interrupted by a clatter from above, startled he gazed up to where he had heard the sound and froze, fear making the hairs at the nape of his neck stand upright. Two burning red eyes regarded him from the top of the building overlooking the alleyway Walter was currently standing in. Whatever it was, it certainly was no raccoon. Most people in Arcadia had heard rumors of creatures with stone for skin, glowing eyes and a hunger for human flesh. Walter had dismissed these descriptions, monsters didn’t exist, right?

But as the massive creature dropped down from above, talons scraping on the hard concrete, Walter found himself believing these rumors.

Bular growled in delight, here was a sniveling fleshbag, alone at night with no one to hear his screams as he teared his flesh from his bones. Licking his tusks, the massive, black gumm-gumm prince leered at the doomed human. He would savour every crunch of his meal. Fear gave a delicious flavoring to his prey. Stalking forward until he towered over the fleshbag he pinned him with one massive clawed hand. Opening his mouth Bular bellowed, spittle spraying across the human’s face, terror in his wide green eyes. He was looking rather pale. Bular would play with him, like a cat with a mouse, then rend and tear the flesh from his bones, until nothing remained.

The monster was intelligent, of that there was no doubt, it knew it was toying with him and would eventually kill him when he grew bored. Walter had to admit, this was not how he pictured dying, eaten by a ravenous monster. He thought of Barbara and Jim, praying he would miraculously make it out of this alive. And then the beast reared up, crashing his bulk down on his hand, with the gem, which was pinned against his chest by the monsters clawed foot, embedding it into his chest. Pain lit up his insides, sharp as a sword, cleaving into him like an axe. Any hope of escape fled, he would die alone and his wife and son would never find out what had happened to him. Walter could feel intensely blood seeping through, the gem that had been gruesomely forced into his chest pulsed, like a second heart, strangely he could feel his heart beat fading but the gems pulses becoming stronger and more rapid. The brute pinning him down seemed to hear it too, for he had his head to one side, like a curious puppy. Then the monster opened his maw, and with a voice as hard as rock, shouted, “What trickery is this?!” Walter couldn’t hear what he said next, his senses were fading fast, the pain causing him to see points of bright light to appear behind his eyes. The creature stepped off him, Walter didn’t notice, the pain too much for his body. Just before losing consciousness the gem in his chest gave another pulse, sending a sharp, knife like shard of pain to the middle of his back and head. Then Walter knew no more.

Bular had no idea what had happened, but the burst of magic had sent him crashing into the wall behind him. Standing up Shakily the gumm-gumm prince leapt away from whatever sorcery had just occurred, a human always patrolled the museum, he would eat that flesh bag, and the large troll ran, not sparing a second glance to the human below who would surely die.

Blinky and Aaarrrgghh had heard a roar, a human cry and a seen a flash of bright green light and had immediately set off to investigate. When they rounded the corner of the alley the creature on the ground in front of them came into view. Blinky let out a gasp of shock. Aaarrrgghh simply sighed and stated worriedly, “Uh-oh".


	2. chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter wakes up, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh attempt to kidnap(trollnap?)

Blinky was unsure what exactly the creature was, but he looked to be in pain, and whatever else Blinky was associated with, he was known to be incredibly kind hearted. Although admittedly this was one of the reasons no troll took him seriously. Most trolls found this to be a weakness, but as Aaarrrgghh liked to say, his kindness brought out the best in people. 

Vendel liked to say it would be quieter without Blinky but the old troll was like family, and had been there for him after the disastrous events of the battle of Killahead. Gulping the scholar stepped forward softly and all six of his eyes widened in shock. Right before his many eyes human flesh was changing to living stone. Somehow this human was turning into a troll!

Skin hardened and took on a deep green hue, horns of ivory spiraling elegantly up out of his head. Tusks of pearl white and claws of deepest black pushed themselves out of his fading human skin.

Aaarrrgghh growled, this reminded him too much of how, back in his gumm-gumm days, changeling’s were created. A race created to serve Gunmar the black who had the ability to switch from troll to human in the blink of an eye. Thanks to the evil witch Morgana who had experimented on kidnapped troll whelps to form their species.

Blinky continued to watch the transformation, transfixed with awe. The changes had abated, a full troll now lay on the floor, but tremors were still violently raking his body and Blinky could only exclaim in surprise as bones suddenly jutted out of the creatures back, causing the unconscious new troll whimper. The bones extended on both sides of his back, white as fresh snow. Right before their eyes stone flesh began knitting over the bones, muscles and veins. They were wings, ebony black and beautiful. They slumped over the green troll covering most of him from view like a blanket.

Aaarrrgghh knelt down before the winged troll and delicately sniffed him, “Not troll. Not human. Changeling.” It was not a question, the Krubera was right, although this poor soul would not know a thing about their culture or that trolls even existed. This was a problem, the best thing to do was quickly get him to Trollmarket. Aaarrrgghh looked over the green troll and stated “Needs new cloths.”  
Blinky sighed, “Quickly then. I am sure he won’t want to wake up with nothing on. Just make sure it is clean.” The large troll nodded and lumbered off. Watching his friend go Blinky rested his head in his four arms and groaned, this was a disaster! What would Vendel say about this?

Once the troll was suitably dressed in traditional troll clothing Blinky politely asked his companion to wake up the winged troll. Bending down again the Krubera was about to gently shake awake the troll when two acidic yellow, silted eyes snapped open in alarm.

Walter felt terrible, like a truck had run him over several times, all his limbs felt incredibly heavy and weighted. He also had a terrible headache. So when he opened his eyes, it was pitch black yet he could see perfectly, and saw a large, dark brown nose snuffling at him curiously, he reacted on instinct and lashed out, surprised when five lines of green blood instantly appeared on the creatures nose. It reared back, and Walter could see it clearly, it was not the one which had attacked him. This one was dark grey and covered in thick green fur, a golden earring glinting in its left ear. For such a large creature it, he, looked gentle and friendly, there was a softness in his eyes that made him guilty for lashing out like that. But why had he reacted like that?

Walter was normally very mild mannered, he rarely got angry. Barbara tended to have more anger than him. He had once jokingly said he was like water and Barbara like fire, one mellow the other fiery. It was a good comparison.

“Well, that could have gone better, but at least you are up!” A voice spoke cheerily, right by his ear. Walter jumped in surprise and turned his head, a four armed, six eyed, blue monster came into view, a look of childlike happiness plastered across his broad, toothy mouth. “It looks like you have not had a concussion, you seem to be taking everything in well. Do you happen to remember what happened?”

Walter didn’t answer, he was too busy staring at his hand. His hand which was green, and clawed. Well that explained how he had injured the monster with such ease, a small part of his brain, the part not freaking out, whispered to him. But why was he like this, this must be some sort of nightmare. Something brushed against his side and he yelped in surprise, turning around his eyes widened. Wings. He had wings, growing out of his back, black wings. And he was green all over.

Walter grabbed his head, this could not be happening, and came into contact with horns. Panicking slightly, Walter ran a clawed hand down his face and felt sharp teeth jutting out of his mouth. He was made of stone, like the monster who had attacked him. Looking down at his chest he saw a familiar green gem, now fused to him, pulsing like a heart. Wait, was he even wearing anything?

A small part of him wondered how that was even a concern, seeing how one of the creatures in front of him was not wearing any cloths. The greater concern was how he had suddenly changed into a stone monster. He was wearing something, he decided not to wonder how, some brown coarse material that wrapped around his waist several times and ended near his knees. Walter peered over his knees and saw his feet. Which made his eyes widen even more. His feet only had three toes and ended in black claws. This was a dream, at any moment he would wake up and he could forget about stone creatures. He felt something curl around him and saw that his wings, had of their own violation, wrapped around him. This was not a dream the thought that it could be was nothing more than wishful thinking. What was he going to do?

Blinky and Aaarrrgghh watched the winged troll explore his new body, his eyes widening at each new discovery until he closed his eyes, large black wings wrapping around his body like a cocoon. Blinky gently walked over to him and said carefully, “I’m afraid you can’t stay here, I know this is probably overwhelming for you but we must make haste, day is quickly approaching and we need to be underground when the sun rises.”

Walter thought bitterly about how the creature had used ‘we’ as if he was one of them, well he wasn’t, not on the inside anyway. “I can’t” he started, then stopped. His voice had changed along with everything else, it was more like gravel, rough and deep. Most alarming was the sound that followed, a low frustrated growl rising from his chest.

The blue monster did not seem perturbed and continued to speak, “Well you have to, humans can’t know about our kind.”

“I know.” Walter could not help but huff.

“You don’t count, since you got turned into a troll.” the blue monster- troll – stated.

“Troll?” he asked, “You don’t happen to live under a bridge by any chance.” He had meant it as a joke the reaction he got said clearly that they did live under a bridge.

“What?! How can you know? No human should have the slightest clue about us!”

The troll next to him shuffled nervously, “More humans know?”

“I was joking.” Walter responded flatly.

“Oh. Ha. Ha. Well we do live under a bridge, Arcadia Bridge to be exact.”

“I figured.” Walter said sarcastically. He felt his elongated ears give a small flick of annoyance and this brought his mind back to his current state. At least he knew what he had been turned into. The short, many eyed troll cleared his throat,

“My apologies, we have not introduced ourselves. My name is Blinky and this is Aaarrrgghh.”

“Three ‘R’s’.” The troll named Aaarrrgghh added.

“What is your name?” Blinky asked expectantly. Walter scratched his head wincing at the small contact with one of the horns now growing out of his head.

“Walter.” He answered distractedly, looking down at his green, clawed hands and wincing slightly, wishing for his own, familiar hands rather than these.

Blinky and Aaarrrgghh exchanged looks of worry. This was not going very well. Walter was obviously finding this very hard. The two trolls were useless for providing comfort, they had no idea about human life and what exactly Walter had lost. Blinky gently rested one of his upper hands on his shoulder.

“I may not know what you are going through but if this is your fate, then you have a choice with what to do with it.” Walter looked at the six eyed troll in surprise not expecting the wise words. He relaxed slightly, wings that had been tightly folded around his stone body loosening. 

“Now, this may be disorientating and unexpected but we must make haste to Trollmarket before the sun rises.”

“Why before?” Walter asked curiously.

“Alas, sunlight kills us, turns us to stone. Dead stone very unlike our vibrant living flesh.” He was serious, even sparing two eyes to furtively eyeball the still dark sky, although it wouldn’t be too long before the sun rose.

“Well I still can’t go with you, not yet.” There was a stubborn gleam to his yellow silted eyes. Blinky inwardly sighed, he knew that look. There was no reasoning with a stubborn troll. No matter if their origins were human.

“And why ever not?” Blinky said with annoyance. 

“I have a family. I can’t just disappear on them, it wouldn’t be right putting them in needless worry.” There was a desperation in his eyes that made Blinky pity the troll, but more humans knowing was a recipe for disaster.

“I truly am sorry, but no one else can know. Aaarrrgghh, if you could kindly restrain him.” The Krubera started forward, and then grunted in surprise, as Walter, through sheer adrenaline, lurched unsteadily upright and slipped under a large mossy arm.

The three of them looked at each other in mild shock, none of them had thought Walter would do something like that, least of all Walter.

Grinning, Walter stood up and smirked, “Have fun catching me, I probably know this town rather better than you two.”

And then Walter turned on one taloned foot and ran out of the ally, enjoying being able to run without having to catch his breath every five seconds.

In no time at all his house came into view, the two trolls lost somewhere behind him. Now that he had stopped running the scents and sounds around him were overwhelming. His ears rotated at every slight sound, nose taking in a cocktail of different smells. This was incredible and all, but it was giving him a headache.

Moving cautiously forward he easily jumped the wooden fence bordering his garden, the back door was normally open.

And then he stopped.

What was he doing? Barbara and Jim wouldn’t recognize him like this, sighing he leaned against the door, complementing on what to do.

Until the decision was made for him.

There was a protesting creak, then, wide eyed, Walter fell backwards on the door into the living room with a jarring boom. Wincing at the noise, Walter picked himself off the door.

Meeting the wide, blue eyes of his twelve year old son. The bowl of guacamole promptly fell out of limp hands, ceramic shattering on the wooden floor.

Jim’s mouth hung open and self-consciously Walter drew his wings tightly around him.

Oh hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will try and have regular updates but no promises.  
> I hope you are enjoying the story so far!


	3. chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter is discovered by Jim and Barbara. Blinky pays the house a visit.

Jim knew he should be sleeping. His digital clock was broken, but from how he was feeling it was very late. Worrying about what had happened to this dad was not helpful. Mum had left hours ago and would have expected Walter to have arrived home by now. That was obviously not the case. So he had thumped his way downstairs and using an old cookbook had managed to make a decent midnight guacamole. He had been about to go over to the living room to place the bowl on the table so he could get some nachos when the back door crashed inwards. Depositing a bright green, ivory horned, winged thing into the house. The bowl of guacamole slipped from his fingers in shock. Shards of ceramic scattering over the floor.

Both of them winced, eyes meeting, Jim’s wide with shock and awe and Walter’s containing pure panic.

Jim’s young, twelve year old mind was in overdrive, monsters existed?

What did they eat? Were they nocturnal, was that why no one had seen any of them? Were they all made of stone? The statement that he blurted out was rather stupidly; “Mythical creatures don’t exist.”

The mythical creature in front of him did not look too impressed.  
The next thing Jim said was what he really had wanted to say; “What are you?” he hated how scared he sounded. And as much as he wanted to understand what this creature was, the feeling of familiarity with him was really freaking him out.

“I-I really don’t know.” His rough voice full of sadness and uncertainty. Jim had the overwhelming urge to hug him.

“Really?” Jim couldn’t stop the trace of skepticism in his voice. The creature shuffled nervously wings wrapping tighter around his body.

“Apparently I’m a troll now.” 

“Apparently?” Jim seemed unable to do anything else but ask questions. The troll looked at him thoughtfully. 

“Well, before today I didn’t even know about trolls and I was still fully human.”

“Human?” Jim frowned, that couldn’t be right. The creature did not look human at all.

“Stop asking questions please Young Atlas, I don’t know.” The nickname came out naturally, and without thought.

Jim looked at the creature in surprise, “H-how do you-,” that nickname had only ever been used by his dad. It had started from when one day, while his mom and dad had been at work he had decided to cook his best friend Toby a meal. That had been at the age of five. His parents had been very surprised when Nancy Domzalski, Toby’s Grandma, had said how outstanding Jim’s pasta had been. Walter had of course seen how much Jim was willing to help his friend, his mother and even random people. It had started as a joke, he had told Jim about the Titan Atlas and how he was responsible for bearing the weight of the heavens on his shoulders, a punishment bestowed on him by Zeus. Walter had jokingly said how Jim was about ready to take on that responsibility himself. After that it had stuck.

Walter saw Jim looking at him in shock and alarm and winced, he should probably think before speaking a bit more.

“Dad?” Jim looked the winged troll over again, but instead of focusing on his appearance, focused on what he could tell of him from his eyes. Who knew, the eyes really were the window to the soul, it was without a doubt his dad, albeit much changed outwardly.

"I thought I said no more questions.” Walter grumped, a look of relief on his face at being recognized so quickly. Inwardly he was already fretting about how Barbara would react. Probably not as calmly as Jim.  
“Dad! What happened to you? This is so cool! Can I touch your wings?” Jim took a step closer curiously, a look of bright, spellbound wonder evident on his face. He reached out a hand, hesitating millimeters away from touching.

Walter found moving his wings himself not as difficult as he would have thought. It was like moving an arm, only these grew from his back and were membraned in a similar way as to a bat. He moved his left wing closer to Jim’s questing hand, which immediately reached out and, with one finger, ran it down one of the stony membranes. The sensation for both of them new but not unpleasant. 

And then Jim hugged him tightly, not at all perturbed with Walter’s horns, claws, tusks or stone skin. Walter’s love for Jim apparently knew no bounds.

Walter gingerly returned the hug, painfully aware of accidentally marring Jim with his sharp claws. He concentrated on folding his large wings around Jim and himself, creating a tent around their bodies. Walter rested his head on Jim’s back, closing his eyes at the sight of his lithe green arms that wrapped around his son. Jim mumbled something under his breath, with enhanced hearing Walter clearly heard what Jim said; “I love you dad, no matter what."

After that Walter was adamant, exciting changes aside, it was getting late and Jim should try and get some sleep, much to his dismay. “BUT DAD! I wanted to see those other trolls and how mum reacts ta all this!”

“What so you can film it?” Walter crossed his arms, raising a stony brow at his son. Jim laughed. “What?”

“It’s just so weird, seeing you like this when I expect mythical creatures to be in video games or dark creepy forests." He waved his hands around in emphasis while yawning. Walter’s look of incredulity was lost on Jim, as bending down he gathered the shards of guacamole splattered bowl in his hands. Avoiding poking his skin with the pointy edges. He stood up, deposited the shards in the bin, and gave a long suffering sigh. “Guess there is no point arguing with you.” He gave another yawn, waved to Walter had trudged out of the room and up the stairs. The sounds of him getting sorted eventually stopped as Jim fell asleep.

Leaving the green skinned troll with a lot on his mind.

Until the whirlwind that was Barbara Lake arrived. (Yes, she hadn’t changed her name to Strickler, she had wanted to know why she had to do that just because most people did and how it didn’t even make sense, and why was it the women had to change her name to her husbands and the man didn’t change it to the women’s? Walter hadn’t minded, Jim did have both their surnames though).

Barbara was deeply unhappy. Her shift had been messed up yet again, her husband hadn’t been responding to her increasingly worried texts and a uncomfortable feeling of irrepressible dread had settled in a withering mass in her stomach. By the time she pulled up in front of the house she had a headache from speculating on what might have happened at the house. She firmly pushed all those worries to the back of her mind, fumbling with her keys she inserted the wrong one, cursed, selected the correct key and slipped silently in, closing the door with a small click. Barbara took off her work coat hanging it on the staircases banister along with her bag. Kicking her crocs off irritably. She was not ready for what awaited her eyes.

The fact the back door had been kicked in rather violently was not noticed, the seven foot, green skinned, horned and winged demon took all her attention.

He was standing uncomfortably in the center of the room, looking absolutely terrified, and rightly so. With incredibly fast reflexes, she grabbed the broom that had been lying forgotten against the sofa and wacked the creature over the head, forcing him to retreat backwards.

Yelping at the sudden pain that jarred through his horns, Walter had no luck avoiding the second attack, which managed to clip one of his wings, hard.

He stepped back, and with inhuman speed grabbed the next swing in one clawed hand. Surprise registered on both of their faces, then Barbara squared her shoulders and pushed her glasses up. She then attempted to retake her weapon. Walter gripped it tightly and as gently as possible, eased the broom out of her white knuckled hands. Placing it on the floor with exaggerated slowness, before slowly rising up to his considerably taller full height. Barbara was incredibly tense, and was about to grab the nearest picture frame on the wall, a picture of her dead brother that she really didn’t want to throw at the demon, when a low gravelly, yet strangely familiar voice spoke softly; “Stop.”

The demon was speaking to her yet refused to meet her eyes, his inhuman pupils needle thin points that clearly showed to Barbara he was agitated. Thankfully, if he truly wasn’t going to hurt her, he didn’t seem to have a concussion and didn’t seem in any major pain. Not that painkillers were likely to work on a mythical creature that was made of stone. How was that possible anyway? Great, she was going mad, hallucinating crazy creatures. Just great.

Walter had no idea what to do or say. He was certainly not going to tell her straight up, he was her husband and been turned into a troll magically. That would go down well. He was in way over his head and no one could help him apart from two idiotic trolls who had tried to kidnap him. This was not how he imagined his Friday night would go.

“What are you?” Barbara asked, a look of fascination on her face, so similar to Jim’s earlier reaction.

“I’m afraid I don’t fully know Barbara.” Oops, to late did he realize he had said her name, when to Barbara he was a complete stranger. Him and his stupid mouth. Barbara let out a gasp at the casual use of her name. How does he know that? Can he read my mind? 

“I’m not reading your mind.” By now Walter knew how his wife’s mind worked and it didn’t take a genius to guess what she might be thinking. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He adjusted his footing, three toed feet leaving slight scratches in the wooden floor. This must be a nightmare. Barbara thought.

“Believe me this is not a dream, I wish it was.” 

Barbara gaped at him, only one person close to her could be so in tune with her thoughts. Like lightning she recognized the being in front of her. Or at least she thought she did.

“Walter?”

He didn’t trust himself to speak, instead he nodded, the small movement weighed down by his ivory horns. Barbara gasped again, had covering her mouth in shock, eyes widening to a comical size. She had hit him pretty hard, she inwardly winced.

“What. The actual. Hell?” Barbara took a deep breath, she had to sit down. She made her way shakily to the sofa, Walter hesitantly following behind her. She sat down, legs folding under her, rubbing the bridge of her nose in fatigue. Walter was still standing, in all his green skinned, winged splendor. Tiredly she peered up at him.

“You can sit down you know, Walt, you don’t need my permission. And I need an explanation of all this.” She gestured with her arms at him.

“You just gestured to all of me.” Walter said, raising an eyebrow.

Barbara ignored him and continued, “So how did this happen?”

“A large black troll with an appetite for human flesh attacked me, which caused this thing to somehow fuse with me.” He pointed at the glossy emerald gem lodged in the center of his chest.   
Barbara let out another breathy gasp, tonight was just going to be surprises piled on surprises. Walter sat down on the opposite side of the sofa, wings curled protectively around him and feet curled up next to him.

He began talking, leaving out nothing of the nights events, except for Jim’s discovery of Walter, he didn’t want him getting into trouble. Once he had finished talking Barbara had a look of intense worry on her face, looking as how Walter still wouldn’t fully meet her eyes and kept glancing at his hands like he couldn’t believe that they were now green and clawed. Really Barbara didn’t blame him, she felt a surge of sympathy run through her, and Barbara leaned forward, wiggling closer to Walter she reached out, brushing her fingers down his arm. It was not exactly stone, it was supple and just as muscled as a human arm. It also was not completely stone cold although his skin was cool.

She marveled at how she could still feel the muscles in his arm contracting as he stiffened slightly. Barbara gently grabbed his hand, easing the fingers open and giving his clawed hand a gentle squeeze. Walter hesitated, before carefully returning the squeeze, taking care not to press too hard.

“Well, whatever happens next, we are in it together, alright?” Barbara’s eyes shone fiercely at him and Walter nodded, ears automatically raising slightly in gratitude, not that he noticed until Barbara let out a small giggle. He frowned, this time feeling it when his ears lowered in confusion. His ears that was what she was laughing about. He blushed, immensely relived that it wouldn’t show through his green stone skin.

Barbara leaned closer, eyes shining with curiosity, “Can I touch them?” she asked reaching out with her hand, feeling incredibly self-conscious, Walter nodded, ducking his head slightly so she could reach. He felt her fingers explore his elongated ears, hearing clearly the muttered, “remarkable.” That Barbara said under her breath. Walter blushed again, glad his complexion hid it again. “They’re so mobile!” Barbara moved her curious hands down the side of his face, thumbing the markings engraved on his chin. Then, feeling brave, reached up and ran her hand down one of Walter’s ivory horns. It sent a shiver across his body. Turned out his horns were incredibly sensitive and the feeling of Barbara’s hands on them was delightful. He felt something start to build up in his chest, a rumble, but he was completely relaxed…

Oh no. He wasn’t, was he? He was purring, this thought horrified him a lot more than anything else he had experienced. How embarrassing. Fortunately he was saved by the sudden scent, unmistakably that of the two trolls, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh.

Barbara didn’t know why suddenly Walter went from almost relaxed to suddenly tense. She couldn’t help but admire the fluid grace which he had as he elegantly stood up. It filled her equally filled her with awe and terror. Humans definitely had no right moving like that, this was the movement of a predator. It reminded her of a documentary she had watched once with Jim, with lions. They had moved with this fluid grace, intent on their kill.

She firmly shoved these dark thoughts from her mind, this was still Walter, whatever else may have changed outwardly he was still her suave, charming slightly goofy husband.

“Walt? What is it?”

“Those two trolls I told you about. The ones who tried to kidnap me. They are quite close by.” His wings bristled, until Barbara, with a grunt, got up from the comfort of the sofa and rested one pale hand on Walter’s shoulder. Automatically Walter’s wing folded around her. She exhaled sharply in surprise at this new, unexpected contact. Walter inwardly cursed himself, why had he done that? But there was no need to worry, Barbara sighed and nestled into him, tension leaving her body, as she leaned into him.

Walter reluctantly broke apart from the embrace. He could see six glowing eyes approaching from the dark. Barbara followed his gaze, eyes widening as a blue, multiple eyed, four armed troll stepped into her house looking incredibly annoyed. He was followed by a humongous brute, who just about squeezed through the back door frame, splintering the fallen door laying under the massive troll’s large feet. “Oops.” Aaarrrgghh mumbled guiltily.

“I’m guessing Blinky and Aaarrrgghh.” Barbara shakily said. Pushing up her glasses with a trembling finger. She hadn’t expected them to be so big.

“You told her about us!” Blinky cried out.

“Well yes. What else was I going to do?” Walter growled irritably, not in the mood to discuss anything with his would be kidnappers. 

“Come with us of course! Vendel will not be happy that a human knows about us.”

“Well…” Walter shifted nervously, regretting not telling Barbara earlier about Jim’s midnight wander. 

“What?” Barbara and Blinky asked at the exact same time, frowns on their faces. Walter and Aaarrrgghh couldn’t help but exchange amused glances at their respective partners identical reactions.  
“Jim, my son.” Walter explained to the two trolls, “Knows about all this too.”

“What! And you couldn’t tell me earlier?” Barbara growled in a way that would do a troll proud.

“I, um, didn’t want him to get in trouble.” Walter lamely said.

“Well, now you are in trouble.” Barbara grinned wickedly at Walter’s look of terror. Considering he now had sharp claws, tusks and horns and was still terrified of her was incredibly amusing.  
Blinky waved his hands around to get their attention back.

“Now. Now. We really have no time for this. You must come with us.”

“How about no.” Walter crossed his arms, narrowing his yellow eyes at the bothersome troll who continued to irritate him and gnaw at his already frayed nerves. Blinky took a large step forward pushing his nose close to Walter’s face. Through gritted teeth Blinky bit out, “I’m. Not. Giving. You. A. choice.” Walter sneered at him, threateningly tilting his horns in a way that was universal among trolls as a back off warning, not that Walter knew that. Barbara gestured to Aaarrrgghh in a ‘do something’ way. The large Krubera wisely inserted his massive hands in-between the glowering trolls and pushed them away from each other gently. “No fight. Got better idea. We go. Come back next night. Then take wal-ter to trollmarket. Ask Vendel what to do.” The grey troll rarely spoke so much, when he did this words carried meaning. Blinky bashfully stepped away from the still glowering Walter. Rubbing his head the blue troll nodded, “Perhaps I have not been spending as much time near the heartstone as I should be.”

“Well, I’m glad that’s sorted.” Barbara sighed in relief. 

“Yes, well you anyway need time to recover after the arduous happenings of this night. I must apologize for my appalling behavior.” Blinky apologized to Walter graciously at least. He nodded to the four armed troll with what he hoped was a sympathetic expression. Aaarrrgghh hummed in agreement, before hoisting the four armed troll over his back and reversing carefully out of the house. Blinky cursing in surprise in a long dead language. He was obviously more tired than he had thought, he normally never swore.

Walter and Barbara stood there until the two trolls disappeared into the night, blinky’s complaints trailing off as they got further away.

“Well. That just happened.” Barbara sighed. “I think it’s time for bed. You coming, Walt?” she asked when she saw Walter hadn’t followed her. 

He shook his head reluctantly, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” His horns glinting in the light of the bulb overhead.

Barbara sighed, " You need the most rest after everything.” She walked back to him and gently kissed him, lips managing to expertly avoid Walter’s sharp tusks. His eyes widened in surprise at this unexpected move. 

He hesitated, and Barbara raised an eyebrow at him, “What is it?” Her voice immediately filed with concern.

“I’ve got a feeling trolls don’t kiss like that.” Walter sheepishly said, he hadn’t had the same enjoyment from that kiss and had an overwhelming urge to do something else, that his trollish instincts assured him was right.

“So how do they kiss?” Barbara asked curiously. 

“It’s weird.” Walter protested, he looked embarrassed although it was rather hard to tell now.

“Life is weird Walt, you just have to go with it.” Barbara said with a shrug. 

Walter gathered his courage and carefully bumped his forehead against Barbara’s, leaving it resting there felt incredibly right to him, Barbara sighed pressing her forehead more firmly against his. Walter nuzzled her gently causing Barbara to giggle at the cat like behavior he was demonstrating. She twined her hands into the thick hair at the back of his neck, kissing Walter’s Stoney cheek. “You’re such a goof.”

He waggled his brows at her, “I know, that is what makes me so irresistible to you.”

Barbara tugged one of his horns. Walter winced, rubbing the base of his right horn, “That was not very fair.” He complained.

“Walt, please come with me to bed, it’s really hot and your stone body will be perfect to keep me cool.” She pouted, widening her eyes at him beseechingly. Walter wringed his clawed hands together and blurted out, “What if I hurt you?”

Barbara placed a hand on Walter’s stone skinned arm, “You are literally incapable of hurting me, I know that you are scared Walt but I said we would get through this together and I mean it. Please, I won’t force you but at this time I think we will need each other.” 

Walter gulped, but when Barbara started going upstairs he followed, she gave him a relieved, tired smile at the top of the stairs. “Goodnight.” She said softly, hugging him close for a second before entering the bath to get ready for bed.

Walter walked into the bedroom, curling on top of the soft bed he sighed, his eyes closing the moment his horned head touched the pillow.


	4. chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter starts to adjust to being a troll, not as successfully as he thought he would.

Walter awoke slowly, his limbs heavier now that he was made of stone. The first thing he noticed was that in his sleep his wings had managed to wrap around Barbara. Who was snuggled against his chest, bright ginger hair madly curling in all directions around her head like a halo of fire. The second thing he noticed was the thin line of sunlight crossing across his arm, Blinky’s words echoed in his mind, how sunlight turned their kind to lifeless, dead grey stone. He snatched his hand back with a hiss, expecting his stone skin to be marred with grey. Only to see his green stone flesh unmarked, apparently he was not affected by sunlight like other trolls. 

Must be something to do with not being originally a troll. He frowned to himself; this may be a welcome bonus, but what if he was permanently stuck like this? There were still so many questions, and the fact he had no answers frustrated him to no end.

The sudden jolt had also woken up Barbara, who groggily cracked one eye open. Both of her eyes snapped wide in alarm when she saw two glowing yellow eyes gazing down at her, dark shadows arching back from its head, ending in lethal sharp points. It took a moment to recognize Walter, when she did Barbara relaxed. She had almost had a heart attack. “Walt?” She asked sleepily.

“Yes?” His deeper more rumbly voice was very soothing and she curled up closer to him, cheek pressed against his smooth stone chest. His pulse was a lot slower than a human, but still a steady beat that made her sleepy again.

“Oh! What time is it?” Her voice gaining strength as Barbara wearily shrugged the last vestiges of sleep from her body. With a huff Barbara wiggled out from between Walter’s wings, hooking her glasses with one finger from the bedside table. She put them on, feeling better now Walter was no longer an ominous yellow eyed shadow. She blinked at him, unsure what to say to her husband for the first time in years. He blinked back at her, a small smile on his toothy mouth. Barbara rolled her eyes at him, the nervousness that had been hovering around her dissipating into nothingness.  
She gently shoved his shoulder and rolled out of bed, yawing widely, Barbara stretched out in her black tank top and spotty pajama bottoms. She looked back at Walter who was already standing on his side of bed.

Walter’s hair was incredibly messy; his eyes bright and wings brushing against the floor. All Barbara could think about was how handsome he looked, even as a troll, half asleep, with cat silted eyes drooping lazily. He made his way around the bed towards her, passing through the light that was starting to stream in from outside. Barbara couldn’t help but ask, “I thought trolls couldn’t be in daylight without turning to stone?”

“Apparently, thank god, I’m not troll enough.” Walter said with a smile.

“What a relief.” Barbara sighed, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Walter leaned forward, rubbing the side of of his cool stone face against Barbara’s neck, before wrapping his arms, and wings, around her. Barbara gently curled her fingers in the thick wispy strands of hair that trailed down his neck. She smiled at him, Walter smiled back, sharp tusks gleaming in the morning light that now flooded the room.

And then Jim skidded into the room, out of breath. “Mum! Dad! I just had the most crazy-.” He cut himself off at the sight of his dad, still with glowing yellow eyes and horns, with his mum wrapped closely in Walter’s wide black wings. “Oh, it wasn’t a dream.” He sheepishly ran a hand through his thick black hair, and Walter chuckled. 

“You know, I think at one point or another we all thought we were dreaming. I know I at least thought that four times.”

Barbara untangled herself from Walter, hands on her hips crossly. “I heard all about you being still awake at who knows what time young man.”

“Sorry mum.” Jim mumbled, looking at the floor intently.

“It’s alright kiddo; just don’t get up to make guacamole at midnight again.” She rolled her eyes at Walter, whose yellow eyes sparkled back at her in amusement. “I can tell Tobes, right?” Jim asked hopefully.

“I’m afraid not. Blinky made it clear that no one else can know about trolls.”

Jim deflated, “I think I’ll go to Toby’s house for the day, let you get used to not being human anymore without me under your feet. Although I’ll be back at around five so I can see those other trolls, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh.”

Walter huffed, not really appreciating Jim pointing out the loss of his humanity; it would be horrible if he was stuck like this for the rest of his life. 

Once Jim had gone over to Toby’s house Walter thought it was a good idea to clean himself up. Troll morning breath was not flattering at all and his hair needed a quick combing back from his face. Especially when Barbara had started laughing about how he resembled a grumpy lion. This was not what he wanted to hear.

Walter was nervous about looking in a mirror, he knew he would look different, but not being able to recognize himself was terrifying. His claws clicked loudly on the hard floor as he entered the bathroom, shutting the door he hesitated before switching on the light. The first thing he noticed in the mirror were his eyes. Why had no one told him they glowed?

His pupils were red and elongated like a cat, the sclera completely yellow. His nose was roughly the same shape, not like the troll’s noses he had seen. Walter’s was much more human. Although his nostrils were located on the side of his nose, long black slits that opened and closed in time to his breathing. It was a brownish hue that was nowhere near as contrasting against his dark green skin as blinky’s bright orange nose against his blue skin.

His tusks curled up from his bottom lip, pearly white and rather sharp. He experimentally poked one with his finger. Yes, most defiantly sharp. Walter couldn’t help but admire his horns; they arched in swooping curves on either side of his head, pale ivory and ending in perfect points.

His hair definitely needed combing. Walter turned away from the mirror to quickly grab the thin bristly brush Barbara usually used and ran it through his hair, pulling it away from his face until it lay neatly against his neck. Walter frowned at the strands of hair still sticking upright from his head. He scowled, attempting to make it lay flat, no luck. He shrugged, defeated and carefully brushed his tusks and teeth, not giving in to the temptation of eating the brush, which was a horrifying instinct. Great now he would be tempted by things he would never be able to eat as a human.

This just got better and better.

And he would also need to regulate the length of his horns and claws, which would probably grow. He liked his horns their current length, they were rather elegant and could be useful as defense if he was ever in a fight with a troll. His claws could be cut shorter though, experimentally he flexed them, yelping as with a sharp zing the talons that had been retracted curved out of their relaxed position. They were coal black and each the size of a small pocket knife. Lethally sharp and dangerous. Gulping Walter relaxed his hands and the talons retracted back, leaving only the tips of his claws out in the air. Barbara called out to him in alarm; she had heard his yelp then. “Walt? Are you alright? I heard you yell.”

“Oh, sorry I was just taken by surprise.” He complemented not telling Barbara about the retractable, terrifying talons he had and then dismissed the thought, why should he lie or hide things from her? He hadn’t had to before and Barbara had said they were in this together.

“By what?” Barbara asked. Walter opened the door; Barbara had a look of curiosity on her face. 

“These.” Walter held out one hand flexing it slowly five needle sharp talons slid out. It was similar to how a cat had retractable claws. Barbara was once again reminded about how Walter was built like a predator now. She gently ran a finger over one of the obsidian black talons; they were smooth and cool to the touch.

“Well I would be pretty shocked too if I had suddenly retractable knives coming out of my hand.” Barbara joked.

Walter huffed, relaxing his hands, he watched in fascination as the massive talons disappeared into the thin slots they rested in while not in use. “Well I am pretty sure Blinky and Aaarrrgghh don’t have these.”

Barbara thought back to the four armed troll and his large friend and nodded, "They don’t seem to be the type of trolls to have retractable claws. Aaarrrgghh has brute strength, so wouldn’t have need of talons, they would continuously break with the way he walks anyway. And Blinky’s troll tribe, if they all are like him, don’t seem like the type to fight a lot, which may explain why he is as learned as he obviously is.” 

Walter stared at her in surprise. “You learnt that from just looking at them?”

“I can be observant when I want to.” She tapped him on the nose lightly, causing Walter to instinctively blink. “I need to sort myself out now. At least I don’t have to go to work.”

“And I’m not going to be work to look after all day?” He fanned out his ebony wings, raising a stone eyebrow at Barbara.

“Just don’t break anything while I’m sorting myself out.” She smiled at Walter before gently closing the bathroom door. Walter couldn’t help but huff, he was never even clumsy. His wing knocked against the vase on the table behind him, causing it to topple to the floor in a tinkling of ceramic pieces. He winced, wide eyed in alarm; Barbara hadn’t heard luckily, she had turned on the shower head just as the vase had shattered. It seemed all their ceramic objects would perish within the week. Bending down he gathered all the broken pieces in his clawed hands. He didn’t even notice at first the piece that made its way casually into his mouth. Crunching down on it the taste was Smokey and slightly bitter, the crunch the ceramic made in his mouth immensely satisfying. Then Walter noticed what he had done. He had eaten a shard of ceramic and enjoyed it.

He hurriedly scooped the rest of the shards in his hands; making his way down stairs Walter quickly dumped the remaining pieces in the living rooms bin.

Walter started to pace, back and forth, lost in swirling thoughts. If he liked ceramic as a troll what other things, while unappealing to eat or even downright dangerous as a human, would he be able to eat? Would he even be able to eat human food? What if he actually got hungry, would he go for an animal, like a cat? That might explain the vast amount of missing pets in Arcadia. Would these new instincts even be controllable?

Great more things to worry about. So when Barbara suddenly appeared out of nowhere, newly showered, which may explain why his new hyper sensitive senses had not alerted him to her presence. He couldn’t control the surprised snarl from escaping his mouth, upper lip curling back from razor sharp tusks. He hadn’t expected her, it really didn’t help she had touched him on the back, out of his line of sight. The snarl died in his throat the moment he saw Barbara’s wide, shocked and fearful expression. She quickly recovered, reaching out to him. But Walter flinched back, horrified at what he could have done to her, she had been seconds from getting clawed. He slowly edged to the back door, he couldn’t stay here, and he needed space to breath. Barbara’s horrified expression seared into his mind. He should have more control then that! He turned away and dashed out of the house, ignoring Barbara’s cry for him to come back.

Barbara had been surprised, and scared, by Walter’s reaction. For a moment it had seemed as if he hadn’t recognized her. But then she had foolishly not told him she was there, he had obviously been lost in thought. Walter had not been aware of his surroundings. Barbara had to remind herself that he had been through majorly traumatic events, she was honestly surprised about how well he had been dealing with his unexpected change. Up until now anyway. She sighed, Barbara would worry naturally, but she knew Walter he would come back once calm enough. At least she hoped so.

Walter ran blindly, getting further and further from human habitation. Until the shadows of the forest enveloped him, casting dappled light across his dark green stone skin. He breathed in, the smell of earth and bark soothing his nerves wonderfully. Better than the chaotic scents that had assaulted him in the house. Better than ever seeing that look on Barbara’s face again. Walter sunk down to the grassy ground, back leaning against the magnificent trunk of an ancient oak, branches reaching up as if to grasp the sky in their knotted embrace. The birds, seeing him as no threat, burst into song, the sweet melody relaxing the turbulent knot within Walter’s stomach. He leaned his head back, horns creating parallel grooves in the bark behind his head. He sat there, heartbeat evening out as he got his panting breath under control. Walter closed his eyes, dozing off in the warmth of the midday sun, black wings curling around his body acting like camouflage against the dark brown bark of the tree.

The birds continued their melodious song, a small wren landing on Walter’s right wing claw. Immediately joining its brethren in the chorus of life. Walter was completely oblivious to everything around him, until with ominous finality the joyous tune of the birds cut out suddenly.

The wren that had been on his wing fluttered off with a warning call as Walter woke up. This had happened when he had first stumbled into this clearing, until he had made it clear he was no threat and was going to do nothing but sit here.

The thick bushes in front of him rustled, a pointed snout, dark brown and furry emerged. This was quickly followed by bright amber eyes and long tapering ears. The wolf elegantly stepped out of the shrubs. Bushy tail slowly sweeping from side to side. Walter had forgotten that wolves lived in the further parts of Arcadia forest. This was America after all, not England, where the scariest animal to come across predator wise was a fox or badger. The wolf sniffed the air, one paw raised, before delicately stepping into the small clearing. Walter held his breath. He had never seen a wild wolf this close before, they were usually very secretive and avoided people, but it was not like he was human anymore.

The wolf regarded him, warily sniffing the air again. It stepped towards him, curiosity in its bright orange eyes. Walter sat up in alarm, mouth hanging open in shock as it touched him with a moist, wet nose. The wolf licked him, seeming to enjoy the slight saltiness of his stone skin. Walter worked up the courage to reach out with one hand, brushing the tips of his fingers against the thick brown fur of the wolf’s back. Then a howl broke the moment. The wolf’s ears pricked up, shooting Walter a last glance it bounded away, eaten by the forest like it had never been there.

The birds resumed their song.

When Walter finally got up, stretching his limbs out with a yawn, the sun had passed its zenith and he thought it might be a good time to return home. He thought about Barbara with a wince. She must be out of her mind with worry. He hadn’t acted very smart, running out of the house like a coward. What had he been thinking?

Well that was precisely the problem, he hadn’t been thinking at all, Barbara must think he was an idiot.

Barbara was worried. Walter had been gone almost four hours. It was nearly one thirty. She couldn’t help but fret, all sorts of horrid scenarios crowded her mind, the first that Walter had come across another, hostile, troll with immunity to sunlight.

She was about to go hunting for him and had gone out into the garden when she saw a pair of yellow eyes looking down on her from the fence. She gasped, her instincts screaming at her to run away, but she took a step forward.

It was Walter, of course it was, balancing on the fence his claws digging into the wood tightly, and wings spread for balance. Walter had been about to jump down when he had seen Barbara come out. He had decided not to startle her and wait for her to notice him. She searched Walter with her eyes, looking for a trace of him still being feral. He wasn’t, yellow eyes glinting Walter jumped down from the fence, landing with barely a sound. He was slowly, more like glacially, getting accustomed to his new body, the balance of it and increased senses anyway. His wings on the other hand were a completely different story. The thought of using them and being able to fly was exhilarating. Although the only place he could think of that may be a good place to practice at was the hill overlooking Arcadia. But if he screwed up the chances of him being discovered was very high. And he was certainly not trying anything tonight. Blinky and Aaarrrgghh would be taking him into trollmarket.

Walter forced himself back to the present moment. He lowered his head in shame, eyes staring at his clawed feet listlessly. He made himself as small as possible, wings pressed flat to his back.

Barbara recalled a documentary she had once watched out of boredom, it had been about wolves, and how they submitted to the stronger wolves in the pack. Walter’s posture clearly showed he was deferring to her. This made her uneasy, it sure wasn’t human behavior. She shrugged inwardly. So what? Walter may be different now but she had to get used to this, to be honest this made her love for him stronger. Some of his new behavior and instincts were cute. Even if Walter certainly did not think so.

“You don’t have to do that you know.” She said gently. Walter looked up uncertainly. 

“Do what?” He asked. 

“Make yourself look smaller.” Walter’s eyes widened, he hadn’t even realized he had been doing that! Walter stiffly straightened, eyes still locked on the floor. 

“We should get inside, I don’t think those trolls will be happy if the whole town knows about them.” She looked up at him, empathy clear in her eyes. Walter nodded mutely following Barbara, at a distance, back to the house. He hovered at the door frame, absently noticing the door he had broken was gone, probably taken away to be scrapped.

They would have to buy a new one. Barbara sighed, sadly watching her husband afraid to even enter the house. “Walt. Please talk to me, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what is going on. I want to help you, please don’t fight against me.” She took a step forward, finally managing to meet his bright, cat-like eyes. It was easy to see how scared Walter was, even though he hid it well. “Talk to me Walt.” Barbara cupped his stone cheek with one hand, looking at him with love and understanding. Walter relaxed at her touch, immeasurably relieved that Barbara was not afraid of him. 

“I’m sorry.” His voice was barely above a whisper.

“You have nothing to apologize for, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have startled you like that. I mean I’m such an idiot! You were obviously stressed, no wonder with all this crazy stuff going on! And now I’m babbling. I should be more understanding. Walt I’m so, so, sorry and-.” Walter cut her off, overwhelmed by Barbara’s understanding and full of love for his wonderful wife, he gently nudged his forehead against hers.

Then he burrowed his face in her neck, strands of fiery hair tangling in his horns. The soothing smell of lavender and soap coming off of Barbara. He inhaled Barbara’s scent, feeling much better and calmer then he had all day. Barbara hugged him tightly, not that he minded. His wings wrapped around the both of them, content, a deep rumbly purr escaped Walter’s lips. One that was not muffled quickly enough as Barbara’s head shot up in surprise. Hair mussed by Walter’s nuzzling, she pushed her glasses up her nose with one finger. “Walt, what was that noise you just made?”

“I didn’t make any noise.” He tried, and failed, to defend himself as Barbara, in an attempt to hear properly the purr she was sure she had heard, reached up with a hand, scratching him in-between the horns, seeing as they appeared to be quite sensitive. She was rewarded with a reluctant rumble from Walter who couldn’t help but nudge his head closer to the blissfulness of that feeling. He only snapped out of it when Barbara began to giggle. Instinctively he withdrew from her, yellow eyes wide in horror at this embarrassing behavior. 

“What?” Barbara asked, a smile dancing playfully on her lips.

“That is not a sound I should even make, it’s- it’s-.” 

Walter struggled to find the right words so Barbara cut in, “Cute and harmless?”

“Exactly.” Walter huffed, glad he hadn’t been made to say it.

“I like it. It really does not make you any less intelligent, it adds to your personality and I will love you no matter what.” She said it so sincerely that Walter’s embarrassment left him and he drew Barbara against him again more firmly, another rumble of contentment building in his chest. This wasn’t over, there would be other times where this all got too much. But for now he was at peace.

Jim arrived home soon after, impatient to see if the trolls had arrived. When Walter said they hadn’t Jim had sighed and then asked curiously if Walter could eat anything weird as he was a troll now.

“Ah. I don’t really know, although…” Walter trailed off unsure how to say he had eaten a part of a vase by accident, and that he had broken it after Barbara had said not to break anything. 

“Although what?” Barbara and Jim asked at the same time.

“Well I know I can eat ceramic.” 

Barbara raised an eyebrow, then frowned. “And how do you know that?”

“Um. I broke the vase upstairs and accidentally ate a piece while gathering them for the bin.” Walter winced as Barbara tugged on one of his horns in annoyance. He couldn’t help but think every time Barbara got annoyed at him she would use the sensitivity of his horns to her advantage. He rubbed his head, “Well I should have probably told you that.”

Jim suddenly stood up from where he had been sitting next to Walter, with a wing draped over his shoulder, “I think they’re here.”

Walter glanced outside, it was dark enough for the two to come here. His prediction that Blinky would want him as soon as possible in trollmarket was correct then. He sighed, Barbara leaned her head on his stone shoulder, “Be safe, alright?”

“I will.” Walter kissed her on top of her head, tusks tickling Barbara’s scalp gently. He got up, wings folding neatly against his back, Barbara standing up too. Jim stood in front of the back door, gaping at Aaarrrgghh who had gotten stuck halfway in the doorway. The Krubera grinned, showing an impressive set of tusks. “Hi.”

Jim gaped at him, “Wow! You’re huge!” Aaarrrgghh smiled gently at the boy, before almost ripping the door frame from the house. At least he was inside finally, although a picture was dislodged from the wall. Walter, with inhumanly fast reflexes, caught it before it could shatter, placing it carefully on its hanger again. Claws delicate in the handling of the glass covered picture of him, Barbara and a baby Jim cradled in her arms outside the hospital. The image of him human made Walter wish with longing to regain what he had lost. He shook his head inwardly, no point pinning for his humanity he had to accept what had happened to him and hope for the best.

He turned back to Aaarrrgghh, who had sat on the floor, Jim feeding the giant troll one of their old VHS tapes. “Mum! Dad! Look! If he eats them all we don’t have to bother finding a charity store!” Barbara snorted in amusement, exchanging a look of fondness of their son with Walter.

“Make sure you don’t accidentally feed my grandmother’s tapes to him, alright?”

Jim nodded, throwing with a grin another tape into Aaarrrgghh’s waiting mouth. Walter had always been close to his grandmother, he still remembered the stories she used to tell him as a child. Tales of mythical creatures that lurked in the forests, child stealing fairies and stone skinned trolls…

Had she been aware of them all this time? What else existed out there if trolls turned out to be real? There had always been something magical about Lucinda Strickler, and Walter was determined to find out who exactly she was. If she had magic, could she even be still alive?

Walter shoved these questions away as Blinky had arrived. Huffing at the sight of Aaarrrgghh being fed VHS tapes. Jim’s eyes widened in awe, “You really do have six eyes! Cool!”

Blinky, well blinked, at the childish wonder on the young human’s face, “Yes I do.” He stated simply, sidestepping the boy he faced the redhead and the winged troll. Walter seemed much more confident, which was good, although he was still incredibly under prepared for trollmarket and had a long way to go before truly understanding what it meant to be a troll. “Are you ready?” Blinky asked seriously, gesturing with his many hands to the outside, were trollmarket awaited them. Walter nodded nervously, Barbara and Jim hugged him tightly, Walter draping his massive wings around his family protectively.

Blinky and Aaarrrgghh watching in fascination, trolls were not very touchy or good at expressing love, humans had weird traditions, such as kissing, that were as alien to trolls as eating rocks was to a human. 

Walter rested his head on top of Barbara’s lightly, watching the two trolls interest in amusement. Sighing, he reluctantly untangled himself from the warmth of the hug. Jim looked up at him worriedly, “How long will this take?”

Blinky answered for him, fixing two eyes on the boy and his other four on Barbara and Walter. “I’m afraid I do not know. It may take a night or even several before Vendel has any idea on what is to be done with you.”

“Just great!” Walter said sarcastically.

“It is!” Blinky said, completely missing Walter’s sarcasm. Another thing trolls obviously were not familiar with. 

Barbara and Jim still stood beside him, their nervousness a palpable scent. “I’ll be fine. These trolls won’t kill me right?”

Blinky shared a look with Aaarrrgghh, who was standing now, ready to leave. “Just don’t tell them you are originally human and hopefully everything will be fine.” With that Blinky exited the house, followed closely by the large Krubera. 

Walter gave his family a hopefully reassuring look before following after the two trolls, towards trollmarket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! i'll try and respond to comments. as it is great hearing feedback!


	5. chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter is introduced to Trollmarket, some of it's residents, and Vendel uncovering some new information and even more questions...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anything in bold and italics is trollish.  
> Enjoy!

The two trolls went over the fence and into the forest, Walter easily keeping up with them after a day getting used to his bodies new proportions and weight. Blinky regarded him out of the corner of one eye, impressed at the green troll’s adaptability. “You are a quick learner. What was your profession as a human? I don’t think you have said anything about yourself beyond your name.”

“I’m a historian, I teach History at Arcadia Oaks High school.”

Blinky stopped in surprise, eyebrows raising. “Why I am also a historian!” Walter couldn’t help being surprised too, they both stared at each other, not thinking for a moment they would have such a similar occupation.

“Well at lest it would make learning about troll’s easier. Do you have a library?” Walter asked. Blinky turned to Aaarrrgghh who was equally surprised at this unexpected similarity between the two trolls. He had thought they would find it hard to talk to each other without arguing from what he had seen. But perhaps they might get along with each other.

“Aaarrrgghh! He wants to learn about our kind! Most trolls cannot even be bothered to look at a book unless they were eating it!”

“They actually eat them?” Walter cried out indignantly, his wings opened in shock, knocking on the branches of the trees surrounding the three troll’s. He winced forcing them to lay against his back again.

“Troll’s are ignorant, they don’t know that knowledge is the greatest power, more coveted than brute strength as it gives people wisdom.” Then Blinky added as an afterthought, “I am glad you want to learn about our kind, but there is one condition.” Walter wondered nervously what the troll historian might want, hopefully nothing expensive or impossible to get due to not being originally a troll. However he was pleasantly surprised and flattered by what Blinky said next.

“I would like to learn about human history, your kind are fascinating and we know so little about you, apart from the marvelous creativity and ingenuity humans are capable of.”

“Thank you. I would be honored to teach you.” Walter grinned at the look of delight that appeared on the six eyed troll’s face.

The rest of the trip was spent in companionable silence, Aaarrrgghh leading the way through the forest, barreling a path through shrubbery, animals fleeing from his hulking form. Eventually they reached the canal under Arcadia bridge, Walter panting slightly at the fast pace the two troll’s had moved at, despite their bulk. He watched in dismay as Aaarrrgghh easily leapt down the steep incline of the canal’s side with Blinky clutched in two massive hands momentarily.

Aaarrrgghh set him down, patting Blinky’s head gently. Blinky then turned to Walter, craning his head so to see him, cupping his four hands around his mouth, he shouted, “Use your wings!”

Walter looked at them doubtfully, now was not the right time to test them, then he shrugged. To hell with it. He flexed the muscles in his back, stretching the membranes to their furthest, rather impressive, full length. Then he leapt, wings automatically pushing the air beneath them down to get lift. Walter glided down, a fierce grin on his face at the utter freedom he felt in those brief seconds.

Before he realized the ground was fast approaching and he didn’t know how to stop his trajectory.

Blinky had a moment to freeze in alarm as Walter gained on the blue troll. He tried to slow down, pumping his wings in an effort to slow his momentum. No luck. He cannon-balled into the four armed troll, wings still spread, knocking his face painfully on one of Blinky’s sharp horns. Luckily he didn’t poke out his eye.

The pain was needle sharp, causing him to almost cry out. He sat up, touching the side of his face, his hand smeared with sticky blood, at least it was still red if slightly darker than normal human blood. The cut was under his right eye, a small zig-zag, and would probably scar, it hurt a lot, although it had already stopped bleeding. He wiped the remaining blood off his face with one clawed hand wiping it on the concrete floor. He didn’t want to go into trollmarket with blood stains on him, that would make a nice entry.

“Do you mind getting off me?” Blinky protested from under him.

“Sorry.” Walter apologized and yelped when a large hand helped him up by lightly grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, which was incredibly undignified for Walter, who flapped his wings in the Krubera’s face in annoyance. Aaarrrgghh mumbled an apology before helping Blinky up, not by scruffing him, Walter thought in irritation.

The scholar was remarkably completely unhurt. “Well that at least confirms you are indeed capable of flight, although you will have to practice a lot. Oh dear, did I cause that scratch?” He pointed to the small scar beneath Walter’s eye and then continued talking, “I am afraid it will not ever fade away completely, as it must have gone rather deep if it was bleeding, I can already see that the skin around there is now lighter than your natural tone, although I really wouldn’t worry at all, most troll’s have hundreds of marks all over them.”

Well that was actually a relief, although Barbara would be delighted to know that he had been gone less than an hour and had already almost impaled his eye on Blinky’s goddamn horns. “I am deeply sorry, Walter.” Blinky said.

“It’s alright, mistakes happen; let’s just go into this trollmarket before some evil troll decides to attack us with all the racket we are making.” Walter’s yellow eyes peered out into the dark, hovering nervously near the dark forest he could just about make out. He dared not forget the black beast that had brought about this situation to begin with.

“Evil trolls? What did this troll look like?” There was sudden alertness and urgency in both troll’s expressions. Aaarrrgghh mumbled a name that sent shivers down Walter’s spine, “Bular.” Blinky had to ask, if it was indeed Bular then the Trollhunter and Vendel had to be alerted about the Gumm-Gumm prince’s presence, “Was he black? With red eyes and curved horns?” 

“Yes. Why?” Walter asked in confusion.

“That was, like Aaarrrgghh so kindly pointed out, Bular dark prince of the Gumm-Gumm’s son of Gunmar the black, vicious under lord of the Darklands, although there is nothing to be feared from him. His lot were imprisoned in the Darklands. Hopefully forever.” Walter didn’t laugh at the ridiculous, by human standards, name or ask what a Gumm-Gumm was. He gulped with fear just the same as Aaarrrgghh at the cursed tribe’s name. But Walter was human, in origins anyhow, and shouldn’t know Trollish. Unless…

 ** _“What am I saying right now?”_** Blinky asked, to see if his hunch was right about Walter being instinctively able to understand Trollish due to the gem that was embedded in his chest.

 ** _“What do you mean?”_** Walter responded automatically in the same tone as Blinky, unaware he had spoken a language that ought to be completely alien to him.

Blinky gaped at him in awe and excitement. Aaarrrgghh said in confusion, “You speak Trollish?”

 ** _“No I-,”_** Walter stopped only now registering the more guttural and grating nature of his speech. The next time he spoke was thankfully in English, “How is this possible? I’ve never even heard Trollish.” This was incredibly eerie how suddenly he knew a language that was not even human. It took years of study to learn a new language, not seconds.

“I believe I may have an explanation. The gem in your chest must have a Trollish creator. It may have, as a lucky side effect, allowed you instinctively know, perhaps even read, our language.”

The four armed troll’s reasoning sort of made sense, at this point nothing wasn’t going to take him by surprise, the mysteries and questions continued to multiply.  “Lets’ just go to your trollmarket. Where is it?”

Blinky drew out his horngazel with a flourish, “The key to our magnificent city!” Walter watched in fascination as Blinky walked up to the blank stone wall under the bridge, drawing a rough, oval arch in the stone. Glowing with blue energy that dazzled Walter’s eyes. The blue troll pressed all four hands in the middle of the blue arch’s center, cracks of blue magic appeared in the rock as with a small whoosh of air the stone inside the arch collapsed inwards in a swirl of bright light. Walter gasped at the secret passage, wings hanging limply by his sides. He numbly followed the two trolls inside, watching the passage close up behind them in awe. He turned, and his mouth promptly fell open as, right before his eyes, a blue crystal staircase slowly materialized, winding down, down and down, into the depths of the earth. He stood at the beginning of the staircase, watching Blinky and Aaarrrgghh start down. He hesitantly put one taloned foot on the smooth crystal, digging his claws in tightly. There was nothing to hold on to in case he fell to his doom. He really had to learn how to fly; it may be the difference between life and death.

Once finally on the solid ground Blinky raised his arms into the air widely, “Behold! Heartstone Trollmarket!”

It was the feeling of warmth that hit Walter first. It was akin to being wrapped in the warmest blanket on the coldest of nights, or the happiest moments of his life in one huge ball of warmth. Then he actually looked at Heartstone Trollmarket, gems glittered high up in the craggy rocks, shining as bright as stars from this distance. Caves and stalls covered in lights and shining pieces of stone and glass were everywhere, winding streets reseeding into the distance. This was nothing compared to the bright glow of the huge geode, the Heartstone no doubt, that nestled in the center of the sprawling market place. It was in brilliant shades of orange, red and yellow that washed the whole place in a cascade of warm and tender light. Only then did Walter notice the inhabitants, a vast, diverse range of troll’s. Different shapes, colours and sizes. Some had tails, some were only one eyed and some had cloven hooves. It was slightly overwhelming to say the least. Not that Walter would show that.

Blinky watched Walter’s look of awe and grinned, “It truly is a glorious sight, is it not?”

“It’s remarkable; I’ve never seen anything like it!” His eyes lit up in excitement, wings rising slightly.

Blinky suddenly frowned, “There is one thing before we go to Vendel.”

“What?” Walter and Aaarrrgghh said curiously.

“You cannot possibly roam around among troll’s with a name like Walter, it is not a troll name.” Walter was also frowning now, that was a problem, the troll’s would immediately wonder, and be suspicious, as to why one of their supposed own had a human name. And draw unwanted attention to him, more so then apparently being the only troll with wings here. “What about my last name?” Walter asked.

“Well what is it?” Blinky was curious, most troll’s didn’t have a second name, but rather took on their clan name as a last name, if they had a clan. Otherwise they went by a moniker, like Draal the Trollhunters son who went by the deadly. “Strickler.” Walter answered simply.

Meanwhile Aaarrrgghh had noticed a gaggle of adolescent troll whelps, three in all, who were surrounding a troll who was desperately trying to stop his paints being eaten by the two larger whelps. The smaller one was hovering at the edge looking away.

“Err.” Aaarrrgghh tried to get the other two to listen to him but they were engrossed in their conversation.

“There is a name that sounds similar to your last name, Stricklander.”

“Is that even a troll name?” Walter asked.

“Yes, a very old one in fact. A few of our kind to have born that name are quite the hero’s and warriors, why there is one famous tale-,”

Walter quickly cut him off; Blinky seemed like the kind of person to go on and on. He had no time for stories if he wanted to get home at a decent time. “What does it mean?”

Aaarrrgghh, surprisingly, answered, “Means conquer, roughly. Lot of variations.”

Walter thought for a moment, this was the name he would be referred to as a troll, and then finally nodded with a grin. Horns glowing golden in the light from the Heartstone. “I like it!”

“Oh dear.” Blinky had noticed the troll whelps surrounding Frimson, a sikarak troll from North Africa who had been living in trollmarket for the past fifty years or so. Walter had also noticed, he took a step in that direction automatically. He had dealt with many bullies in school before, but Blinky leapt in front of him, four arms spread wide.

“We cannot do anything, we should go to Vendel. This sort of thing happens all the time, getting involved in a fight against three, even if they are only children, is a really bad idea. And it will draw unneeded attention to us.” Blinky and Aaarrrgghh avoided looking at the scene, although Blinky’s ears twitched towards the group as if he wanted to put a stop to it.

Walter snorted at them in contempt, “I am not going to fight them, I’m going to _talk_ to them. You don’t need to solve problems with violence you know.” Blinky and Aaarrrgghh looked at each other in surprise. Blinky had to remind himself that Walter was still more human than troll and would have different ways to deal with situations; he would not deal with things like a troll would.”

“Two of those whelps, along with older young, trashed my library! It took days to reorganize it. And do you know why? Because I had the audacity to tell them off for being too loud! Braxil is the worst out of those two and leads some of the others, he is despicable!” Blinky glared at the misbehaving adolescents, in particular the spikey red troll with stubby white horns, who was eating one of the paint pots.

“Well if you are not going to step in, I will.” Walter carefully made his way to the gaggle of young troll’s, avoiding small bearded, pointy toothed and red and blue hated miniature men. Who chattered angrily at Walter’s clawed feet which had nearly trodden on one of them. He shook his head, Gnomes were real too?

He was now close enough to hear what they were saying and take in their appearances. None of the troll whelps were very big, the red one, Braxil was only the height of Walter’s chest, and the others were smaller. The other male, he thought the other one was female, was a more clay like red, with large bat like ears and curved ram horns the last one was definitely female, long dark magenta hair with light pink, almost white stone skin with small branching deer horns, she was looking at the floor guiltily, as if she really didn’t want to be there or partake in the current activities.

She spoke up softly, tugging lightly on the earthy red whelp’s shoulder. “Veer, maybe we should leave Frimson alone.” Her gaze still was firmly on the ground. The other child, Veer, snorted. “So Braxil can bully us? I don’t think so. Besides Aretha, Frimson is a weakling, troll’s are meant to be strong.” Veer sounded unsure though, the words sounded almost rehearsed.

Walter thought now was the best time to intervene; while they doubted what they were doing was right. “You think troll’s are only good if they can fight?” he made sure his tone was mild, who knew how troll children could react to his interference.

Frimson took the opportunity to run away, gathering most of his paints; thankfully only a few had been broken, shooting the children a thoughtful, if pissed off, look before scurrying off. He really did look foreign; the brown sikarak had beautiful orange crystals growing from his back and tail, black tufts of fur growing from his elbows, knees and tail. His face resembling a wolf, albeit with short cream horns, tusks and gold hoop earrings in each ear. He was not wearing any cloths, but like Aaarrrgghh it seemed perfectly fine for him. The sikarak disappeared from sight, tufted tail vanishing around a corner, leaving Walter to deal with the children.

Who had their full attention on Walter, wide and alert blue (Braxil), green (Veer) and orange (Aretha) eyes fixed on him in surprise.

They had never seen a winged troll before.

“Troll’s are the strongest creatures in the world; if they aren’t strong they aren’t troll’s.” Braxil boasted, although, again like Veer, the whelp sounded like he was talking someone else’s words. “Who told you that?” Walter asked, raising an eyebrow.

“My father. He says Frimson is not a real troll as he doesn’t know how to defend himself and is weak.” His words sounded unsure, Walter could tell that whoever this boy’s father was, had drilled this into Braxil’s mind and he obviously thought he should listen to his father’s advice.

“Not everyone is the same, some people are not made to fight, and you shouldn’t pick on someone because they are different.” All three looked fascinated by this strange troll’s words.

Aretha perked up, orange eyes alight, “That’s what I told them!”

Walter turned his eyes to her, “Just because you didn’t actively participate does not make you any better. You let Braxil and Veer bully that troll.”

“We’re sorry.” Both the pink whelp and Veer chorused together, hooves clattering on the hard rocky ground.

“You had better be.” Walter said severely, and then turned to the bright red whelp, “Braxil?”

The defiant child looked incredibly ashamed. “Father said dominating over weaker troll’s shows you are a worthy warrior. This is why I stopped playing my lute. Although I didn’t have a choice. He-he burned it in front of me!” The young troll’s tail whipped furiously in agitation.

“So why on earth would you bully someone for the same reason your father punished you for?” Walter was disgusted at the obvious brainwashing this child had from his father, although this was common among humans too. Both of their species had a lot in common.

Braxil stared at the floor, morose clear on his face. “I just wanted to make him proud of me, that I can be a proper troll. I feel awful now!” Walter sighed, at least he felt bad about what he had done, and troll’s didn’t ruthlessly pick on weaker ones like other animals. But then troll’s were obviously not animals giving in to their base nature, they were just as complex as humans. If lacking their ingenuity and creativeness.

“You can get respect other ways, I would personally get new paints for Frimson and apologize.” The three young troll’s looked up at him in surprise.

“You’re not going to punish us?” Aretha said meekly.

“No. But I don’t ever want to see you three doing that again, understood?” They all nodded furiously and slightly anxiously, in case Walter changed his mind.

“Why would he accept our apology, we were so mean to him.” That was said by Veer, who looked down at the floor, large ears flicking nervously.

Walter smiled at them gently, “He might not, but you are young and have time to make things right and to learn from mistakes. Each of you are special and will be good at something only you can do. Now get out of here, find him and say sorry. If he needs any help then try and be helpful.” They nodded before scampering off, hopefully to find the sikarak and get new paints to replace the broken ones.

Blinky and Aaarrrgghh stared at Walter in surprise as he came slowly back towards them. They had seen Walter talk to the whelps for a while, without getting attacked incredibly, and then the youngsters had ran off. “What did you say to them?” Blinky asked curiously.

“I told them off and asked them to go and apologize. You would not believe the amount of times I do this at school when someone is being bullied.” Walter rolled his shoulders, wings rustling slightly as he folded them more comfortably against his back.

“We now go to Vendel?” Aaarrrgghh asked.

“Yes I think we can finally go to him now.” Blinky answered with a relieved sigh. He led the way through the bejeweled marketplace, Walter getting quite a few odd looks on the way. They finally arrived, the Heartstone standing impressively in front of the three troll’s. Walking inside Walter marveled again at the beauty of the massive geode. Inhaling the rich aroma of the Heartstone’s mystical power. He was so busy marveling at the fantastic feeling still thrumming powerfully through his body that he jumped almost out of his skin at the booming voice that echoed in the chamber.

“Blinkous Galadrigal! What have you done?” Vendel demanded, milky eyes fixed on Walter in anger. The cream, goat like troll was obviously not blind as he poked Walter firmly in the chest causing Walter to stumble slightly. “Blinkous?” Walter couldn’t help but snigger at the ridiculous name, even if it earned him another jab from Vendel’s massive claw.

Blinky snorted, “Horrible is it not? My mother had a funny sense of humor. Which is to say not funny at all.”

“Less of your life story you gibbering fool. I would love to know why you have brought a changeling right into Heartstone Trollmarket!” Vendel said, aggressively poking Walter yet again. “Changeling?” Walter looked up at the cream troll in confusion, giving Blinky a pointed look for not telling him what exactly he was. Blinky helpfully shrugged, while Vendel gaped at Walter in astonishment. “Well what else could you be? Glowing eyes, five fingered instead of four, by my age I can certainly know how a changeling looks at a glance.”

Walter wrapped his wings around himself to look smaller and said in a rush, “Listen, I was human, fully human, two days ago. Somehow I got turned into a troll, I don’t know how, all I want is to know if it’s possible for me to regain my human form and I’ll be out of tour city forever.”

Vendel frowned in surprise, “You really are telling the truth.” He removed a stone that unbeknownst to Walter had been in contact with his skin from the minute he had begun talking.

It was shining bright white and was smooth and circular Walter narrowed his eyes suspiciously, “What is that?”

“A deciodeal opal, it goes white if you are being honest and black if you are lying.” The old troll explained, looking at the changeling in blooming curiosity.

“So basically a truth stone.” Walter said flatly, not impressed at all, although he stepped back from the elder warily in case Vendel used another magical artifact on him.

“Simply put, yes.” Vendel sighed, humans were meant to be inventive not obvious, although the changeling may be being sarcastic.

“So what is a changeling?” Walter asked.

Blinky cut in before Vendel could answer, earning a glower of annoyance from the elder.

Blinky chose to completely ignore it, “A changeling is one of our young who is kidnapped by Gumm-Gumm soldiers and through dark magic are bonded to a similarly kidnapped human child. Due to this magical disgrace the troll whelp is turned into a changeling, allowing them to spy for Gunmar while able to shift into the form of the kidnapped child.”

“That sounds horrible! For the both of them.” Walter said, disgusted at the cruelty of the evil troll’s, he certainly didn’t fancy meeting any Gumm-Gumm’s if he could help it.

“Changelings are despicable, unnatural creatures they deserve no pity!” Blinky retorted angrily.

“Do you think they had a choice? From what you told me they were kidnapped and indoctrinated into serving this Gunmar, and if you lot would kill them if they returned, which seems likely due to your reaction, then I can see why they are not willing to risk their lives by changing sides.” Walter growled in disgust at the scholar, surprised that the troll wouldn’t think about the other side of the story. History was written by the victors, who tended to distort the truth to their own liking.

The three troll’s all looked at each other in surprise. “I suppose you may be right.” Blinky admitted quietly, looking with all six eyes at the floor.

“Hmm. You raise interesting points, young one.” Walter huffed in exasperation not appreciating being called ‘young’ by the old troll. By his long life anyone would appear young and inexperienced. The human changeling was even younger than a troll whelp if taking age literally instead of focusing on mental age. Although this one had promise and great potential. A bright mind without the erratic behavior and childishness Blinkous displayed.

Vendel continued, “We must not get talking about ordinary changelings, if you are one, which I am positive of, than you should have the ability to switch willingly between your human and troll form.” Walter gasped in shock, it had not occurred to him he may be able to be both, he had thought he would be stuck like this or changed back into a full human. This was better than he could ever have hoped for.

“How?” He asked, fighting to still his wings in his excitement.

“Since you have never switched forms, the best thing to do is get a Gaggletack, iron will force you to take the form you are currently not in. After that it ought to be a matter of concentration to switch between troll and human whenever you want.” Walter nodded, hope flaring brightly in his eyes.

And then an embarrassing thought crossed his mind, “Um, I would greatly prefer to go back to my house and family and do this there rather than here. I don’t want to turn back into a human naked in front of you.”

The three troll’s looked at the changeling in bafflement, modesty was not a troll custom, and many of their kind didn’t bother with clothing, like the Krubera and Sikaraks.

Vendel narrowed his eyes, “Do your human family know about us now?”

“Yes, although they won’t tell anyone I swear.” Walter might as well be truthful, especially with that deciodeal stone still cupped in Vendel’s large hand.

“I believe you. Blinkous, Aaarrrgghh go fetch a Gaggletack and make sure it is covered securely and then come right back.”

“Of course Vendel, let us depart Aaarrrgghh.” Blinky bowed his way out dramatically earning a growl of irritation from the elder, who shook his head at the departing mossy green back of the Krubera and four armed troll.

Vendel looked over at Walter approvingly, “You appear to be dealing with all this rather well. I would never, in all my long years, imagine a human getting turned into a troll. Let alone a shapeshifting changeling.You should have died or gone mad. There must be something else that caused you to survive. I don’t believe that you just got lucky…” The old troll mused to himself.

Walter gaped at Vendel in shock, he was neither dead or insane he was perfectly fine and the cream troll thought something else may have contributed to his well being. Physically if not completely mentally or emotionally anyway.

Walter shrugged, determined not to show weakness and calmly stated, “I’ve always managed to work through my problems and be level headed in challenging situations, and this is no different.”

Vendel raised a stony brow, regarding the changeling thoughtfully. “You did not tell me your name, changeling.”

“Myself, Aaarrrgghh and Blinky decided I should have a trollish name.” Walter hesitantly said, eyeing the troll nervously. The elder nodded impatiently for the changeling to continue.

“We settled on Stricklander as it was close to my human surname.” Walter looked carefully at Vendel’s face trying to gauge his reaction. The old troll was expressionless. Apart from a slight twitch up of his wide lips. Well that was something, right?

“Ah, Blinkous and Aaarrrgghh are back. I will expect you here at the same time for further… evaluation Stricklander. Blinkous will lead you back here so be ready.” The old troll had obviously dismissed him.

Walter politely lowered his wings at Vendel before exiting the Heartstone’s inner sanctum. Vendel watched the changeling leave, impressed with his respectfulness ad eagerness to learn. But he would have to be monitored and the Trollhunter alerted and made aware of his presence.

Vendel would not take any chances.

Blinky was holding a parcel in his four arms outside the Heartstone. He passed it wordlessly to Walter when he came out. “Where is Aaarrrgghh?” Walter asked looking around for the large Krubera.

Blinky sighed, “Alas, RotGut’s is not free. Aaarrrgghh had to get the materials for the trade. So only I will lead you back to your dwelling I’m afraid.”

Walter rolled his eyes, dragging his clawed feet on the stone floor as he followed Blinky.

Away from the mysteries of Heartstone Trollmarket and towards home.

 

 

 

 

 

 


	6. chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter uses the Gaggletack, and finds out being a shapeshifter is much harder than he thought. And has a nightmare, good thing his family is always there for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be a slight bit of angst in the next chapter, not too sure how it will come across to people reading this, but for this part i'm literally winging it.:)

Blinky left him near his house, refraining from entering. Saying how it was really not necessary and he would probably make a racket attempting to climb over the fence without Aaarrrgghh being there to help him.

Walter was not complaining, the blue troll was rather annoying and he couldn’t wait to try and see if this Gaggletack worked. He easily cleared the fence, padding softly across the short grass, yellow eyes alert and ears flicking at the slight noises of the night. He poked his horned head into the house, claws digging into the doorway’s frame. Walter’s eyes met Barbara’s who was sitting on the sofa. Where she had been worrying about Walter for the seemingly endless hours he had been gone.

She couldn’t stop the wide relieved grin from appearing on her face, “Walt! You’re back! Thank god!” His claws clicked on the wooden floor as he made his way towards her. She leapt up from where she had been sitting, throwing her arms around Walter’s stone body tightly. She burrowed her face in his neck, wispy strands of grey hair tickling her face. Walter gently hugged her back, slightly awkwardly, as he still had the wrapped up Gaggletack in one clawed hand.

Barbara noticed it with curiosity shinning in her eyes. “What is that?” she indicated the coarse package grasped in Walter’s hand. His eyes lit up in delight at the question.

“Vendel, the elder of trollmarket, said that I’m a changeling, a troll with the ability to switch between troll and human at will. This Gaggletack will apparently initially help me change back into a human.”

Barbara grinned joyfully, Walter’s enthusiasm rubbing off on her, “This is brilliant! You can learn about troll’s while still being able to lead a more or less normal life!” In her excitement Barbara kissed Walter on the lips. Not caring about his pointed teeth or his look of shocked surprise.

She broke away from him slightly, smirking at the soppy smile he gave her. Walter shook out his wings, gathering himself together, and gave a sharp toothy smile to Barbara.

He could be human again, finally!

 

“Well? What are you waiting for? Go and try it!” Barbara said in a shouted-whisper.

“Jim is asleep right?” Walter asked, tilting his head up at the ceiling.

“Well he should be, I didn’t want him staying up to late as I knew you would probably get back late. And I was right.” Barbara smiled at Walter and hugged him again.

He ran his claws gently through her fiery locks, enjoying the calmness of just being with his wife. Even as a troll this was the best thing in his life.

He couldn’t believe that only two days or so had passed since becoming a changeling and discovering the entire civilization of troll’s right beneath their town. “Alright, I’ll call you once I have sorted myself out.” Walter said quietly to Barbara, who nodded her head, her excitement nearly as great as his own.

She gave one of his long ears a playful tweak before making her way back to the sofa. Walter huffed, rubbing his ear and then carefully climbed up the stairs, tiptoeing into the bathroom and only turning on the light once the door was gently closed.

The last thing he wanted was for Jim to wake up.

He still couldn’t get over how different his reflection in the mirror was, completely alien to him. So many unfamiliar features, that made him almost unrecognizable, even to him. How would he ever get used to this?

Walter turned his attention to the parcel in his hands. Wings quivering nervously, he unpicked the tight knot with a claw, revealing a…

horseshoe.

“Seriously?” Walter muttered in disgust. Really he shouldn’t be surprised, if it warded off fairies in stories his grandmother had told to him, then why not also work to reveal a changeling?

Although, if any pure iron would force him to switch forms, how he was going to avoid it in his family’s farm in Wiltshire? They owned horses, two the last time he, Barbara and Jim had visited.

That rose the next question, what was he going to tell his family? Walter had already booked the flight for next month, when school ended and the summer holidays began, it was too late to cancel and hopefully he would have this changeling thing under control by then.

It gave him almost two months actually; it was for the end of the next month.

But would he even tell anyone?

His father, Edward, was very superstitious and mistrustful. And they had never been very close.

His brother, Christopher, was no better; chances of being shot at were high if he was ever seen by him like this.

His sister, Marigold, was sweet and understanding, if a little simple.

But her husband was similar to his dear brother; Andrew was a prick, all muscle and absolutely no brains. At least his brother was not married and Marigold and Andrew had no children.

Yet.

His mother was completely different from them and Walter got his looks from her, dark hair, green eyes and tall and thin. Everyone else had blond hair and blue eyes.

But she was not like them in mind as well, sharp witted and intelligent. Elizabeth would recognize him like Barbara and Jim had, he was close to her. And she had once said she would always know her son, even while he was all the way in America. His mother never said anything if she didn’t mean it.

Walter shook his head to clear his worried thoughts away and drew on all his courage to reach out with one hand and touch the horseshoe tensely, unsure what to expect.

He was not prepared for the sharp, knife-like burst of pain at his stone skin’s contact with the iron.

Walter bit back a cry of pain only half aware of the bright light that wrapped around his body; the green lightning engulfed his form leaving him momentarily caught between human and troll. He suddenly understood what Vendel had meant about using the Gaggletack to initially switch forms; he had just needed a slight push to see how it worked and felt.

The flash dissipated, leaving him on his knees panting, still slightly surprised at the sharp pain still throbbing along his hand.

He opened his eyes, which he had closed, and almost let out a delighted yell of happiness.

Pink human skin met his eyes, his right hand blistered from the contact with the Gaggletack. There were no claws on his hands, no weight of horns, no massive wings.

He was normal again.

Then he noticed that his chest still had a massive gem still lodged in it. Light green veins branching off into his skin.

This would make going to a hospital impossible.

Great, another problem to add to the growing list.

Then he finally noticed, he was completely naked.

“Oh hell.” His voice was no longer rough or gravelly, thank god, and all he felt was immeasurable relief.

He wasn’t going to be stuck a troll forever.

He stood up shakily, quickly wrapping the long fluffy towel on the hanger around his chest and waist. Making sure the towel was secure, Walter opened the door.

It was a lot darker in the landing than he remembered, he frowned and his vision sharpened, all the details coming into focus the darkness seeming to disappear.

How on earth had that happened?

Confused, Walter glanced in the mirror and froze.

His usual evergreen eyes had been replaced by slited yellow and red ones.

He blinked and they became green again, still startled by the jarring image of troll and human features mixed together Walter poked his head out and softly called Barbara’s name.

There was a curse and then hurried footsteps as Barbara climbed up the stairs rapidly.

And then she was in front of him.

Wide eyed wonder and joy shinning on her face. “Walter! You’re human again!” Barbara said in a shouted whisper, her grin turning into a smirk as she saw the towel wrapped around him. “I guess you need cloths then?”

“Yes please.” Walter offered a slightly embarrassed smile to his wife, who sighed good naturedly and disappeared from his sight, reappearing moments later with a bundle of clothing under her arms.

Once Barbara was close enough Walter wrapped his arms around her tightly and kissed her deeply on her lips, hands weaving into her fiery locks. She responded eagerly, pressing herself against his warm human flesh.

God, she had missed human Walt, thinking he might be stuck as a troll forever had saddened her, more for his sake than hers.

She didn’t care how Walter looked, only if he was happy.

The kiss would certainly have gotten further, and Barbara had just flicked her tongue against Walter’s lips when he lost control of his human form.

Understanding what was happening he broke the kiss and stepped back reluctantly, much to Barbara’s disappointment and confusion.

This was answered by a bright, flaring flash of green electric light that surrounded Walter’s body.

When the light died Walter was once again a green skinned, horned and winged troll.

He winced as his unfurled wings rapped sharply against the metal and glass of the bathroom walls.

Barbara gave him an amused and curious look, “Well, if any strong emotion is going to set you off like that. It looks like you won’t be going anywhere for a while.”

Walter groaned in dismay, rubbing his horns with, once again, clawed hands.

“This is going to be a pain! Especially if I have to touch that again!” He growled, causing Barbara to jump slightly, still not comfortable with Walter’s new range in sounds.

He gestured at the horseshoe on the floor of the bathroom.

Barbara went inside, picking it up in confusion. “What on earth is this doing here?”

“That is a Gaggletack; to troll’s anyway, it reveals a changelings other form. And hurts like hell.” He showed her his right hand, the grey area where his stone skin had been burned clearly visible against his otherwise vibrant green tone.

Barbara gasped in dismay.

She carefully inspected the burn; the skin had gone a dull slate colour, cracks running through the dead flesh. Although already a green shade was slowly creeping over the wound.

It would recover.

“And the troll’s decided not to tell you it would hurt you?” She said, upset at the damage done to Walter after touching the horseshoe.

“I’m going to have to learn how to heal troll’s, I’m sure that Blinky guy will have books on trollish healing remedies.”

“Well, I have not been to his library yet, but I seem to instinctively understand, talk and speak troll. This would be a good way to see if I can read it too.”

Barbara stared at him skeptically, “You mean to say you’ve learnt a different language just because of all this?” She waved her hands at Walter in emphasis, wanting a real reason for how this was possible other than magic.

“Yes, pretty much.” Walter shrugged, wings moving up and down slightly with the small motion.

Barbara sighed and rested her head on Walters’s stone chest, suddenly very tired, and not willing to make a fuss about Walter knowing a new language miraculously.

“I think you should try and shape shift without touching that evil piece of metal.” She shot a glare at the horseshoe still in her hand, taking care not to touch Walter with it by accident.

“I can try, although perhaps I’ll take my clothes with me this time.” He grinned, tusks gleaming pearly white, as he took the offered bundle gently from Barbara’s hands.

“OK, since I’m all ready for going to sleep, I’ll go to bed.” She reached up on her tip toes to kiss Walter lightly on his forehead; he was irritatingly much taller than her in his new form.

Barbara couldn't help but wack the horseshoe down on the table outside the bathroom with a glare before wandering into their bedroom.

Flopping with a relieved groan onto the pleasantly soft covers.

 

Walter snorted at his wife’s antics before softly closing the bathroom door.

He put the cloths on the hanger and closed his yellow eyes.

He focused on how it had felt changing forms, the oneness he had experienced. Being both troll and human. And thought about everything he loved about being human.

A tingly feeling ran up his spine, followed by the same bright flash of green light that had happened already twice.

In seconds his body softened, horns receding into his skull, wings collapsing in a swirl of magical light. When Walter opened his eyes he was once again human.

And still naked.

Growling in mild irritation he pulled his cloths on quickly.

Simple loose grey trousers and a black tank top, he was going to sleep after all.

He padded softly across the landing between rooms, and couldn’t help but check on Jim.

Poking his head into his room. Which had a theme of Gun Robot and Vespa’s, that Walter was afraid Jim would never get bored of.

Jim was not asleep, blanket covering him, pocket torch in hand as he read one of his comics with great interest. Completely unaware of his dad approaching softly and standing in front of his bed waiting to be noticed.

It didn’t take long for Jim to spot him.

His eyes comically widened at the sight of his dad, human again, glowering at him.

With impressive speed the blanket was pulled off his head and the torch and comic shoved into Jim’s bedside drawer.

“What?! How are you back to normal again?!” Jim shouted softly.

Walter hushed him with a finger to his lips and a glance at his and Barbara’s room, before coming over and sitting on Jim’s bed.

“Barbara can’t know I came into your room and didn’t tell her you were reading in bed again when you are meant to be asleep. Jim, you know it’s bad for your eyes.” Walter scolded lightly.

“So. I’m not in trouble?” Jim asked hopefully.

“No.” Walter answered simply.

Jim pumped his arms in the air in silent triumph, and then looked at his dad in confusion. “How is this possible? Are you back to being human permanently?” Jim looked at Walter, frowning at him severely, as if he was doing something wrong by being human again.

Walter sighed, “I do not think I’ll ever be fully human again Young Atlas.”

“You look pretty human right now, whatever those troll’s did worked, and now you’re in the Nile.” Jim poked Walter in the nose, causing him to grimace in irritation, swatting his son’s hand away.

Jim raised an eyebrow, definitely human; this was not a cool illusion like something out of Gun Robot, which would have been pretty cool.

“It’s in denial Jim.” Walter corrected.

 “I know what I said.”

Walter sighed, and stood up, backing up a few paces.

He didn’t want his wings to break anything when they came back.

Jim looked on in confusion, what was his dad doing?

There was silence for five seconds.

Ten seconds.

Fifteen seconds…

“Dad? Whatever you’re trying to do, it’s not working.”

“Damn it.” Walter said in annoyance, upset that he couldn’t switch forms at will.

Although it had only been a couple of hours. It would take time, and practice, before he would be able to do this when he wanted too.

It was then Jim saw it, the once green eyes had gone an eerie shade of yellow and the pupils had become reptilian.

They glowed spookily in the dark but it was only for a second and then they were normal again.

“Whoa! You’re eyes went all freakish for a second!” Jim exclaimed, skepticism about his dad being somehow still a troll vanishing.

“How is that possible though?” He asked.

“I’m a changeling now, a troll, or in my case a human, with the ability to change between human and troll willingly. Although I seem unable to fully control what form I want to be in.” Walter explained to his son who grinned at his dad in delight.

“This is totally awesome sauce!” Walter grimaced at Jim’s choice of words. Definitely Toby influenced.

Jim continued, “This means when I start high school next school year I can still embarrass you. As you won’t be trapped as a troll!”

Walter chuckled, “I think it would be more embarrassing for you. It doesn’t take a genius to know we’re related, or that I’ll favor you more. And other children will pick up on that.”

Jim looked dismayed, he hadn’t really thought about what it would be like being at the same school as his dad.

“But then everyone else would tease me! Oh god. This is going to be awful…Unless I don’t get you as a teacher.” Jim said hopefully.

Walter huffed, “No chance of that happening, I’m the only History teacher at the school. This town is too small to need that many teachers for each subject.”

Jim groaned in defeat.

And then brightened, “I’m still gonna annoy you though.”

“Then I’ll have to give you a detention.” Walter couldn’t help but give a satisfied smirk at the look of horror on his son’s face.

“You wouldn’t do that!” He yelped, and then said melodramatically, “I thought you loved me!” Jim collapsed onto his bed, hand to the forehead in a mocking parody of a faint.

“Drama queen.” Walter muttered under his breath, completely unimpressed.

He raised his voice enough to be heard, “I’m joking, Young Atlas. And besides, high school is still rather far away for you. Let’s not think too far ahead.”

Jim sighed, suddenly tired, and burrowed under his blankets snugly, pulling the sheets up so they covered him almost completely.

“Alright then, goodnight dad.” Jim said warmly, Walter smiled and momentarily crouched by Jim's bed in order to give his son a tight hug.

Brushing his dark hair away from his face and giving him a kiss on the forehead. “Sweet dreams, Young Atlas.” Walter murmured softly, giving him a last smile before exiting the room.

 

Barbara was in their bed when he entered the room, glasses put on the bedside table and hair only in a ponytail instead of her usual bun.

She raised an eyebrow at her wayward husband, “And what took you so long?”

“Yes sorry. It took a bit of concentration to regain my human form, I don’t think I’m really in control of what form I’m in. Not completely anyway.”

Walter made his way to his side of bed, snuggling as close as possible to Barbara’s warm body, one long arm wrapping tightly around her. Who knew when he would be able to enjoy something as simple as being human again?

Especially when he lacked control of what form he was in.

Barbara rested her head on his shoulder comfortably and closed her eyes.

Walter sighed, before he too closed his eyes.

Where haunted dreams awaited him.

 

The first thing he was aware of was the all devouring darkness.

No light anywhere just endless darkness.

He was somewhere in a forest, wind and rain lashing around him fiercely.

The wind whistling eerily from in-between the long skeletal branches of the trees.

It was then that he noticed he was running, still human, from an ominous shadow, which persistently dogged his passage through the trees.

Until Walter suddenly froze, suddenly unable to move.

There was a rumbling growl of gleeful laughter and a pair of red eyes appeared before him.

There was a sudden spark of lightning, enough to see the outline of the monster, massive black wings outstretched, ivory horns curling back from its head.

It went dark again and the red eyes vanished.

Another bright bolt of lightning.

And Walter cried out in horror, lying on the floor was a slumped over body.

Discarded there, delicate neck snapped.

Darkness again and sudden light again.

Walter saw snapped glasses.

Fiery red hair spilling from the body’s head. Blood splattered on the ground around the carcass.

Lightning, followed by an angry rumble of thunder, Walter looked up at the sky, rain falling into his eyes and running down his cheeks like tears. “NO!” He yelled, “This can’t have happened, it just can’t have!” He fell to his knees.

Sobbing, unable to think, he didn’t expect a hand to grab his leg.

Looking down he yelled in horror-

 

-and jerked up, eyes flying wide open.The nightmare still horribly vivid in his mind.

Barbara looked at him, worry shinning in her face.

She had been awoken by a bright green flash of light, as in his sleep Walter had switched forms.

He had been deep in a nightmare, based off the fact he had been tossing and turning.

And making deep throaty growls and snarls that were incredibly unsettling to hear.

But Walter sounded scared, and even with the wings, horns, claws and tusks, at that moment he looked so…

Vulnerable.

She gently rubbed his back in soothing circles, feeling some of the tension ease out of him.

And that was when he had woken up, wings stretched out fully in panic for a moment, before settling close to him.

He turned to her, eyes unfocused for a second before he actually woke up properly.

“Bad dream?” She asked sympathetically.

Walter nodded with a shudder, yellow eyes glowing brightly in the shadowy room. “I think I need some air.” Walter rasped, eyes alighting on the window, which was open, he could see it was pitch black outside. So the chances of being spotted were slim.

He reminded himself it was a dream, nothing real about it. But being outside would calm him down quicker than staying here, with Barbara, especially after that nightmare.

He got out of bed in one fluid motion, only then noticing he was no longer human, as his wings settled to a more comfortable position.

He growled in disgust before taking the three sort steps needed to get to the large window.

Walter poked his head out, wincing as his horns, he forgot about them, banged painfully against the wooden window frame.

Well he doubted anyone would spot him on the roof at this time, if he was careful.

Wait…

what was he doing! This was a crazy stunt a teenager would pull off, not a full grown man!

Only he wasn’t a man anymore, he was a shape shifting troll, a dark part of him reminded.

Barbara squinted at him suspiciously, “Walt, downstairs is the other way.”

Turning slightly away from the window Walter looked back at Barbara, who was looking at him incredulously, realization dawning on her face, “You’re going out the window?!”

She grabbed her glasses, wanting to actually see what her crazy husband was doing.

Jamming them on she saw Walter had one clawed foot on the window sill and a hand grasping the frame. I look of guilty surprise on his face, wings fidgeting slightly.

He looked adorable, looking at Barbara for permission to go out much like a small child.

She sighed, nodding tiredly at Walter, “If you feel uncomfortable staying here then I’m not going to stop you Walt.”

Walter gave a grateful smile Barbara’s way, before slowly easing himself out of the window, onto the shingles of the roof.

Turning back to the window he pushed it down so only a small gap was left, catching his reflection in the glass out of the corner of his eye.

He paused for a moment, regarding his faint reflection. Yellow eyes stared back at him, pale ivory horns framing his face, ending in razor sharp points.

It was an alien image, not human, and yet this was him.

Shaking his head, he dragged his eyes away from the window sharply.

He almost slipped at the sudden movement. Wings straining to keep his balance.

Automatically his retracted talons zinged out, tightly gripping the side of the roof, digging into the slight gaps in-between the tiles.

These talons were similar to climbing spikes, so at least any worry about clinging onto anything was dispelled.

He made his way to the top of the roof slowly, not wanting to slip off, claws gripping the reddish tiles tightly all the way.

Once he reached the top he lay down on his back on the tiles, wings outstretched to their widest extent, limply lying on the cool slates.

Walter folded his hands on his chest gazing up.

Taking it all in with new eyes, literally. Even though there was still light pollution, the stars Walter could see shimmered like silver in the inky depths of the sky.

A shooting star whizzed across the seemingly endless expanse above, trailing bright light for a moment.

It was beautiful.

The nightmare dissolved from Walter’s mind, it was insubstantial, unrealistic. Nothing like the solid nature surrounding him.

He felt strangely at peace, although it didn’t last long.

He heard the window squeak open.

Unlike him, Barbara did not have claws or wings to help her with balance. Which could be pretty terrible sometimes.

Walter sighed, and reluctantly crawled back to the window, sitting back on his haunches as he watched Barbara half climb out of the window. She raised her head, meeting Walter’s amused eyes.

“Oh! I thought you might have flown off or something!” she gave him a relieved smile, having worried Walter would have disappeared again.

Walter looked at her, a stony brow raised, how on earth would he be able to fly away anywhere?

It had only been two days. And he had certainly not tried flying yet.

He quietly offered his hand to her, claws retracting so he didn’t mar Barbara’s skin.

She raised an eyebrow, having expected Walter to want to return to bed, but apparently not.

Good thing she was wearing her glasses.

She rested her hand in his delicately, marveling at the smooth texture of his stone skin.

Walter gripped her hand firmly but gently, with frightening ease lifting her out of the window and standing upright, black ebony wings widening for balance as he led Barbara up to the top of the roof.

Both of them sat down, backs leaning against the chimney, one of Walter’s wings wrapping itself around Barbara’s shoulders lightly.

Both of them gazed down at the empty street below, lit up by the lamps lining the road. Barbara tilted her head back to look at the stars overhead in awe. Tonight they were particularly bright, like twinkling diamonds, glittering merrily with no care in the world.

“It’s so beautiful out here, just like you.” That last part was whispered under her breath as she rested her head on Walter’s cool stone shoulder.

She didn’t expect Walter to hear her. “What?” He rasped in surprise, wings flaring out slightly.

Barbara blushed furiously, face almost as red as her hair.

Why did she say something so cringe worthy for?

“You mean that? Even like this?” There was confusion and doubt on his face, that momentarily saddened her, but she smiled and reached out to gently run her hand down Walter’s wing, eliciting a shiver from him.

“I’ll always mean what I say; I love you, just the way you are. And you are beautiful. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that bullcrap.”

This caused Walter to snort, befitting of a troll, and  he kissed her on the lips, mindful of his tusks not catching on Barbara’s lips.

He slowly leaned back, reaching out; he hesitantly tucked a few errant strands of hair behind Barbara’s ear, claws brushing against her ear lobe lightly. Barbara leaned her head into his chest with a breathy sigh, gazing up at him, love sparking in her eyes.

“You’re absolutely amazing.” Walter said passionately, cradling Barbara with his vast wings against him.

“Thank you.” Barbara responded, grinning up at Walter.

His eyes glowed brighter in the dark, “No thank you. Without you I would be completely lost.”

“Aww. You big sap.” Barbara hugged Walter tightly, both of them gazing up into the endless night.

Not thinking about the future and simply enjoying the present moment.

Unaware of the armored troll watching them from the shadows.

 

 

 

 


	7. chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanjigar and Vendel discuss Walter and what to do with him, while Walter deals with Blinky the idiotic troll who will not allow him any peace. A disagreement leads to Walter finally breaking down, although Barbara comes in the nick of time to try and get through to him.

Kanjigar the courageous made his way through Trollmarket, pondering on what he had seen. Vendel had of course told him about the human who had unbelievably gotten turned into a changeling of all creatures. But it was quite different seeing it with his own two eyes. Cuddling with a human! Kanjigar shook his head in disgust.

In all his far roaming travels he had never come across such an odd pair. And Vendel hadn’t mentioned this Stricklander had wings! The only species he knew that could fly were Stalklings, but they were nothing more than mindless beasts.

He was curious to speak to this changeling; Kanjigar didn’t think this counted as a normal changeling, which he would kill on sight before they could use their silver tongues on him.

Especially after the incident with his son.

 Although finding out from a distraught Blinky that two humans, not even one, had found out about their kind all thanks to this changeling had been understandably upsetting to hear.

This had led him to go out on a patrol and spotting the two on the roof.

He continued walking, armour clanking with every step as Kanjigar winded his way through the residents of Trollmarket. His feet quickened near the training arena as he spotted Draal, who was making his way towards his father determinedly, barrelling through any troll in his way.

“Father! I saw something in the forest earlier, it looked like-,”

“Not right now, we will talk later; I have important things to discuss with Vendel.”

“But father-,” Kanjigar ignored the look of desperateness and anger on his son’s face.

He was doing this for Draal, he reminded himself. Distance was good, it would hurt less for his son when he inevitably died.

Trollhunters rarely died old.

 

The spiky blue troll watched helplessly as his father walked off; bitter that Kanjigar cared more about being a Trollhunter than him.

Draal snorted, nose ring clattering against his stone flesh as he turned away from where his father had disappeared and made his way back to the training grounds. Ready to smash the training equipment and any troll’s unlucky enough to get in his way.

He wasn’t called Draal the Deadly for nothing.

 

“Kanjigar, you have to remember, even though Stricklander appears a troll on the outside, does not make him one on the inside.” Vendel honestly thought he was going in circles with the stubborn blue troll standing before him in his silvery armour.

Kanjigar would need to meet Stricklander in person to actually understand what Vendel was talking about.

“Alright, I understand. I’ll be gentle on him.” Kanjigar promised. Vendel grunted, that was the best Kanjigar would be willing to go on Stricklander. It would be fine; Vendel would not leave the changeling alone with the Trollhunter after all.

“You had better be. I have a good feeling about him. The changeling is smart and has potential. If it is channelled properly.” Vendel mused, one large beefy hand running through his tangled beard thoughtfully.

“Do you mean train the changeling in combat?” Kanjigar said incredulously, understanding what the old troll meant if not the reasoning behind the words.

“Yes, we cannot allow him to stumble around defenceless. Especially with Bular in the area. Changelings are quick learners; we can use that to our advantage. A scout who can fly and who knows the town, as well as the humans in it, will have endless uses.”

Kanjigar was, admittedly, impressed yet again by the old troll’s sound logic. He admired Vendel greatly.

Blinky was smart and well learned but didn’t have Vendel’s wisdom, which could only be gotten through experience.

Blinky would eventually make a brilliant elder, with time.

 

 

 

Blinky was stuck.

He hadn’t made it back in time to escape the sun’s deadly rays.

He was currently in some human store, with the threat of being discovered hanging over his head. He cursed his stupidity, instead of heading straight back to Trollmarket he had decided to go dumpster diving for anything he might trade with Bagdwella. He had found some marvellous objects, although without Aaarrrgghh he had lost track of time and had barely made it to the relative safety of a human storage room, the actual store only being a thin curtain away.

Gulping, four of Blinky’s eyes darted to the thin partitioning separating Blinky from the humans in the store front.

If he strained his ears he could hear the low murmur of conversation, but he wasn’t close enough to distinguish between voices, or actually hear what was going on.

Although to be honest most humans sounded the same to him.

 

 

 

Walter almost felt human again, if he could forget about troll’s for a minute.

He had been human for a while now; it had been hours since he and Barbara left the house, and since he had been in troll form.

Although being dragged out so Barbara could shop was not his idea of going out. But he had stifled his urge to complain, the last few nights had been rather harrowing, for all of them, and Barbara stress shopping was preferable to Barbara stress working.

Taking extra shifts would not help her to calm down.

 But Walter had not expected the shopping to take quite this long. It had been at least four hours.

He was bored out of his mind and was even complementing switching to his troll form just to see how much of a ruckus he could make just to liven things up a bit when he smelt it.

 Pine, moss and something vaguely earthy and mineral like.

Troll.

 Frowning, Walter made his way to the back of the store, surprised he had not smelt it sooner.

Especially with his new heightened senses.

His frown deepened at the shadowy shape hovering behind a thin curtain partitioning that separated the back of the store from the front. He quickly stepped through, yanking the curtain back into place behind him.

 It was Blinky, of course it was.

“What the hell?” He hissed quietly, looking the four armed troll up and down in dismay.

How was he going to get this idiot out of here and to his house?

 

 Blinky gulped in fear, another human had discovered their kind! This time thanks to him!

He eyed the human warily, he was tall, and almost the same height as Blinky, if you didn’t count his horns that is, the human was also thin, with a hooked nose with black, sleek hair and bright forest green eyes that immediately reminded Blinky of Aaarrrgghh.

The human didn’t look scared at all, merely annoyed.

“Seriously? You couldn’t reach Trollmarket Blinky? You had plenty of time to get there before the sun came up!” He couldn’t help but flash his eyes at the troll in irritation.

No troll’s for a few hours for god’s sake!

 

Blinky gasped at the human in alarm, his eyes glowed the distinctive red and yellow of a… “Changeling! Good heavens! Get away from me you foul creature!” Blinky cried out, four arms waving around in fear as Walter looked on, puzzled, and slightly hurt, at the blue troll’s reaction.

His eyes faded back to their normal hue as Walter tried to calmly reassure the panicking troll, “Blinky calm down! It’s me, Walter, you idiot! And keep the noise down unless you want to be caught by several people rather than one.”

 “Walter?” Blinky’s six eyes comically widened moth hanging wide open in surprise as he looked the changeling up and down. He grasped Walter on the shoulders with his upper arms in curiosity, “So this is how you really look like.” Blinky reached out to touch Walter on his face but he stepped away with an annoyed huff, glaring at the troll.

Who completely blanked him in favour of continuing to ramble on, “Marvellous! You’re already adapting to being a changeling and switching between forms! Imagine the uses of a changeling for Trollmarket!”

Walter was not enthusiastic about that plan at all, the troll’s would obviously want to use him for their own mechanisation's and now that he thought about it, Vendel had shown a hell of a lot of interest in him. Perhaps because of his potential uses as a changeling.

And he was definitely not in control of what form he was in. Walter was struggling to stay human, even though it hadn’t really been that long, and his eyes couldn’t stop glowing every time something annoyed him, which was often currently as Walter’s patience was never his strong suit under stress.

Several times Barbara had to remind him that his eyes were glowing and to try and control them. She had looked very worried so Walter had managed to stay in control until he had stumbled upon this idiot.

 He forced himself to relax, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth to stay calm, it wouldn’t help Blinky if Walter was a troll too.

 “Alright, how are we going to get you out of here?” Walter looked around hopefully, wishing for a solution to magically appear out of thin air, but that was apparently wishing for too much.

“I thought you may have an idea.” Blinky said, inwardly still shaken by the glowing troll eyes the human had displayed.

This was a freakish ability most changelings had that was incredibly unsettling.  The fact Walter was originally human did not ease Blinky’s feeling of suspicious mistrust, although he felt guilty for feeling like that, this was clearly the same confused winged troll from before, albeit fleshy and lacking the gravelly voice of a troll.

His accent was now clearly recognisable as well, Walter was English. Blinky himself originated from England, which was another similarity with the changeling Blinky found surprising yet oddly happy about.

Walter sighed, “I think I may have an idea. Although don’t blame me if this goes horrendously wrong.”

 

 

When Walter came back he was holding a large, thick brown blanket that he carefully wrapped around the four armed troll, making sure he was completely covered.

Apart from his eyes, which nervously peered down at him.

This plan was going to get him killed for sure, Blinky thought in resignation watching as Walter took out his phone from his blazer pocket.

Walter was very lucky he had a spare phone; otherwise he would have had to buy a new one. As his other phone had been crushed when he had been attacked by Bular. He typed a quick message to Barbara, telling her about the current situation and that he would be at their house once she had finished her shopping.

Pocketing it he turned wearily to the troll quietly waiting for him, “Let’s go then.” The bundled up form of Blinky followed Walter through the back door, both of them speed walking rapidly towards the nearby forest, Blinky trying to stay in the more shadowy areas.

The amount of odd looks they got was embarrassing, but not unexpected, as Blinky was a menacing, if slightly odd figure that was following Walter in a zigzag pattern.

It was weird and Walter could feel the urge to switch forms becoming stronger, much to his dismay.

Eventually they reached the relative safety of the trees, the shade was not enough for Blinky to fully remove the stifling hot blanket but at least he could have his head free now, his relief was short livid as Walter gave a curse of annoyance, as his form shook with small bursts of green light, Blinky stared at him in concern, “What is it? You cannot change shape here! Sunlight will burn you just like any other troll!”

Walter shrugged, causing Blinky to gape at him in horror, “I simply can’t control what form I am in unfortunately, you should be glad I didn’t change in front of all those people.” He gave up trying to hold on to his human form and in a flash of changeling light, Walter was a green skinned and winged troll again.

He was annoyed that he felt more calm and relieved being back in his troll form than his human, birth form.

Walter supposed it was just a matter of getting used to being a changeling.

Or he was just going to get used to being utterly screwed in the head.

 

Blinky gasped, two hands covering his face in horror, other two hands still gripping the blanket around him tightly. He risked a peek only to cry out in surprise. Walter stood directly in the green tinged sunlight, as a troll, utterly unharmed.

Not withering on the floor in pain or his green stone skin smoking with massive grey burns. “Great Gronka Morka!” Blinky muttered in shock, before noticing out of the corner of one of his many eyes the point of grey on Walter’s right hand, but that was healing and not caused by sunlight.

Walter saw where Blinky was looking and narrowed his eyes at the troll, “Did you know that the Gaggletack would hurt me?”

“What?! No! I thought it merely forced a change I had no idea iron would do that to you.” Blinky was clearly going to continue, but Walter raised one clawed hand to stop him from talking.

“It’s alright. Let’s focus on getting you inside before you start to burn or we get caught by someone.” Walter said, yellow eyes darting around anxiously, he began walking towards his house, Blinky right behind him.

 

 Going through the back of his house was easy, as it no longer had a door anymore and a quick glance, and sniff, around made it clear no one else was home. Jim must have gone to Toby’s house. He inwardly sighed, so now he had to babysit a troll by himself until Barbara or Jim got back from whatever they were doing. Apparently he wasn’t ever going to have any peace today or perhaps ever. He turned his attention to Blinky, who had discarded the brown blanket on the floor and was puttering about the house in fascination. He tapped the TV curiously. “What is this doing here?”

“It’s a television, most people own them.” Walter looked at the troll in confusion, picking at one of his tusks absently with one clawed finger.

“We have these in Trollmarket; the static screens are rather addictive for staring at, gets a troll positively hypnotised. They can stand for hours looking at the screens! An absolutely disgusting hobby many trolls are unfortunately drawn to.” Blinky glowered at the screen, nose almost touching it.

One a whim, to see how Blinky would react to the sounds and bright colours of the TV, Walter reached for the remote balancing on the sofa and switched it on.

He was rewarded by a undignified high pitched scream and Blinky falling on his backside with a crash, “Great grumbily gruesome! It burns! I’m seeing a light, is this end? The sunlight contained in this dastardly box will have felled me! Without a chance to say goodbye to my loved ones! What a cruel world!"

 The reaction was priceless, and Walter couldn’t help but laugh, loudly, gripping his sides to stop his whole body shaking, he continued to enjoy Blinky’s reaction until, after a while, Blinky realised the TV couldn’t hurt him.

“Oh. It’s not real. Why are you laughing? WAIT. You did that deliberately, didn’t you?”

“Yes of course I did! I have to have fun somehow, especially stuck like this.” Walter pointed a claw at his stone clad body in sudden irritation.

He had been feeling pretty low all day, rescuing Blinky and having to deal with the troll was not improving his mood at all.

Blinky spluttered in annoyance, whipping his head back to the TV as Walter switched it off, the remote thrown onto the sofa carelessly. Blinky turned back to the bored changeling with a harrumph, folding his many arms in irritated anger.

Forgetting Walter was still new to all this and just seeing a changeling, “You are a disgrace. Look at you! Neither troll nor human, you will never fit in. You are just as impure as any other changeling, being cruel and playing around with people like they are nothing but tools-,” Blinky cut himself off, realising what he had said to the human turned changeling in horror.

It was beyond cruel to someone who had been through such trauma; Blinky cursed himself for being so thoughtless and uncaring.

Walter stared at Blinky in quiet disbelief, hurt and betrayed at the troll’s cutting words.

He then felt a wave of furious anger at the scholar take over him, “I’ve been turned into a changeling against my will, miserably trying to stay human and the least you could do is try to be a little bit understanding and not be so unyielding to a little joke! If all troll’s are so adverse to being different and standing up to bullies, than no wonder you lot are all hiding underground like rabbits!”

Blinky opened his mouth to respond, and then shut it at the sight of Walter, who had a kaleidoscope of emotions on his face; anger, hurt and fury being the main emotions present.

“I’ll just go out in the hallway, allow you to cool down.” Blinky said, wisely removing himself from the angry changeling, guilt gnawing at his insides like a withering snake.

 

Walter watched the troll leave the room in relief, his feelings were all over the place and he had the animalistic urge to rend and tear something to pieces steal over him.

He pushed the human side of him away, locking it deep in a corner of his mind, he didn't want to feel hurt or anything human right now, instead Walter growled, enjoying the power he felt as a troll, how much better it was like this, to be able to destroy without a thought.

The human inside struggled vainly to stop this but he ignored it, obsidian black talons zinging out from their confines with a twitch of his hand.

He raked them slowly down the wall, leaving ragged tears in the plaster.

And then Walter blinked, staring at the clawed wall in disbelief.

What was he doing?

He was not some rabid animal, he was human.

But he wasn’t was he?

Walter closed his eyes, overcome by a sudden weariness. His vision blurred slightly and he sank to the floor, feeling incredibly weak and tired.

His wings curled protectively around him as he let out a small whimper, no one was there to hold him or reassure him so he pressed his eyes tightly closed and was left in the company of himself.

This was no good at all, as right now he was lost and needed someone to guide him.

His last thought was of Barbara and Jim, before darkness, and nightmares, enveloped him.

 

 

Barbara came in the house, an hour after receiving Walter’s message.

Damn the traffic to hell and back.

She didn’t feel happy at all with Walter being alone with Blinky, she had a strange feeling of forbidding, made worse by the troll in question standing in the hallway, nervously wringing his many hands together.

She dropped her shopping, concern shinning in her eyes, “What is it? Has something happened?” She didn’t have to say his name for Blinky to know who Barbara was talking about.

“Yes, although I must warn you, Walter is not in a stable state of mind. And I am afraid I am to blame.” The troll looked so guilty and morose that Barbara had come to that conclusion already.

She glared at him in frustration, and ran a hand through her hair agitatedly. “I’m to blame too, I didn’t see the obvious signs that Walter was struggling, I shouldn’t have listened to him saying he was fine, when he’s clearly not! All this craziness has lasted less than three days for god’s sake!” She glowered in anger, to Blinky or herself she had no idea.

“Stay here.” She demanded, before marching towards the living room, footsteps flattering at the sight of the gouge marks in the wall.

Something an animal would do, she thought with a shiver.

She stepped forward again.

And saw Walter curled into a ball, eyes shut, with his wings folded around him, near the peeling plaster.

He was so still, apart from a slight shivering in the tips of his wings.

Barbara stepped closer, able to hear his breathing, which was erratic and panicked. He must be having some sort of nightmare, or mental breakdown.

She really wouldn’t be surprised.

When stress got too much for someone it was inevitable that the mind would cave in eventually. And Walter had gone through things that normal people didn’t even know about.  So it was likely, and she should approach him carefully.

Barbara crouched down and gingerly brushed one of Walter’s wings with her finger whispering his name quietly.

The wing shuddered, and drew away from her light touch as if it had been electrocuted.

His eyes snapped open, the red of his pupils had widened, almost consuming the yellow of his sclera. Walter had no recognition of her in his eyes, which were unfocused and slightly glazed, as if he was looking at something else, and not seeing her.

For the first time ever she was absolutely terrified of what Walter had become.

And what he could potentially do to her while unstable and trapped in whatever hellscape his mind was putting him through.

She had to get through to him, somehow. Before anything bad happened.

 

She didn’t have time to react.

One minute he had been crouched on the floor, the next minute he was on top of her, claws digging into her shoulders in order to press her to the ground.

Luckily Walter hadn’t decided to unsheathe his talons; otherwise her shoulders would be lacerated pretty badly.

At least she was currently uninjured.

Barbara gazed up at him in fear, noticing how his eyes were still unfocused and he was panting heavily. Barbara took an educated guess that since troll’s were stone and mineral based, mostly, it made sense they wouldn’t sweat or cry like a human. As human tears and sweat, were made of salt and water, something that would erode stone over time.

Her inner musing was disrupted by Walter snarling in her face, tusks bared and wings splayed threateningly.

Barbara gulped, fear shivering through her body as she gazed up at her husband.

 _Her husband_.

She couldn’t just give up on him; they had been married for a long time and she loved him, deeply.

And Barbara had promised to stand by him whatever happened and she knew Walter was still in there.

She just had to get through to him.

Barbara shoved his claws away from her and reached up, cupping both of her hands around Walter’s stone cheeks and pressing her forehead to his tightly.

She thought she heard him gasp.

But she focused on speaking, “Walt, I know you’re in there, fighting this, and if you can hear me, just know. You’re not alone; me and Jim will always be with you. And I love you. Please, come back to me. Please.”

Barbara couldn’t help but sob, Walter was not responding, was he no longer even there?

She hiccuped, sinking to his chest and leaning against his stone body.

She had tried.

And she was still willing to stay with him, whatever happened next.

 

 

Walter came back to awareness due to the electric jolt of Barbara resting her forehead against his.

The snarl causing his lips to rise, displaying his tusks, dissolving from his face.

Leaving him frozen in shock and despair at what he had done, attacking Barbara because he hadn’t recognised her, at all. He felt beyond awful, he hadn’t seen his wife, instead he had seen Bular in his twisted half-lucid nightmare, and his mind was now officially screwed.

When Barbara began to cry though, then he really felt terrible.

Walter could feel something weighty rising up from his chest, he struggled to contain it, but it escaped him as a low keen, he guessed this may be the equivalent to crying as a troll. It certainly did his misery and pain justice.

And caused Barbara to jump in surprise, and attempt to look up at him.

Walter didn’t allow her to, leaning his head over her body he continued to keen; the human part of him still pushed far away, allowing his alien, Trollish instincts control of him.

He felt Barbara grasp his horns and give them a light tug, causing him to instinctively lean back, and Barbara got a good look at him.

 

Barbara looked into Walter’s eyes, the pupils were back to their normal size, and he was definitely aware of what was happening around him.

The keen continued to emit from Walter, it wasn’t a human sound, but it still made her heart ache how sad he sounded. She once again cupped his face in her hands, smiling through her tears, “There you are.” Walter’s keen petered out and he bowed his head, slumping down until he rested his head in Barbara’s lap, tilting his horns so they didn’t catch at her clothes.

Hesitantly, Barbara ran her hands through the tangled hair in-between his ivory horns, getting rid of the tangles in it gently.

Walter spoke softly then, rough voice rasping against her legs, “I’m really sorry, Barbara.”

“It’s alright; it’s not your fault. We will be alright and we’ll work through this. Even if it’s one step forward and a thousand steps back.” She joked tiredly.

Walter slowly lifted his head to meet her gaze, mournfully looking at her through his gold and crimson eyes.

“Perhaps…but…” Walter trailed off, giving the clawed wall a sideways glance with a shudder.

He could very easily do that to Barbara, or god forbid, Jim.

His sweet and trusting son, who deserved so much better than what he could give, “I’m not in control of anything right now, Barbara, I could have hurt you. I would never have forgiven myself if something happened to you because of me. Even if it wasn’t my fault.” This admission drove sharp daggers in her heart, but she looked at the creature before her and refused to see him as a dangerous monster that should be kept away from.

She still saw her husband, the most delicate and fragile she had ever seen him, ironic as on the outside Walter was made of stone.

“I know.” Barbara said softly, looking up at Walter, who had braced himself for the worst, “But I love you too much to care.” She finished and wrapped her arms around Walter, causing him, in surprise, to topple over, wings automatically cradling Barbara against him.

Walter gazed up at his wife in bewilderment; she lay on top of him, no care in the world of how dangerous he could be to her.

 Yet here she was, love shinning in her twinkling eyes and still with him.

He couldn’t help but give her a lopsided smile through his tusks, the same one Barbara remembered from their wedding day, all those long years ago.

“I don’t think I say this enough, but I truly love you, Barbara Lake.” Walter said passionately, adoration clear in his brightly glowing eyes.

“I love you too, more than you could ever know.” Barbara gave him a warm smile, and Walter swore the world got a little brighter, right then and there.

 

 

When Jim arrived home the first thing he saw was Blinky, who was still standing in the hallway.

“Where are my mum and dad?” He asked; worry already shinning on his young face.

Blinky pointed to the sitting room, and Jim rushed past the four armed troll.

 

The first thing he noticed was the gigantic claw marks slicing through the wall, causing him to gape in horror.

The second thing he noticed was his parents on the floor, his dad, a winged troll again, with is mum on top of him, the wide black folds of Walter’s wings wrapped around Barbara gently.

They both sat up and disentangled themselves at the sight of him.

His mum’s glasses were lopsided and her hair was messy, Barbara’s face flushed slightly.

Walter was just as ruffled, although Jim couldn’t tell if he was blushing, his dad being green skinned and all.

Jim walked over to them, a look of concern evident on his face.

“OK. I can see something happened here,” he gestured to the clawed wall and then at his parents on the floor, “But I’m not going to ask what happened, just if you guys are OK. You are OK, right?”

Walter and Barbara exchanged a look.

Walter was still shaken from the events earlier but they were good, for now.

They answered at the same time, “Yes.”

Barbara sighed, leaning against the cool stone of Walter’s shoulder, Walter smiled, before offering a wing to Jim, who was relieved that nothing really bad had happened, he had been freaking out that something disastrous had happened while he was out.

He gladly cuddled against his dad’s wing and the three of them were silent for a minute, taking comfort in each other’s presence.

Walter more than anyone needed this.

 

And then the plaintive voice of Blinky called out, “I’m still here you know!”

Barbara and Jim giggled, and rather than getting annoyed, Walter joined in.

There was no point getting riled up again by the four armed troll, he could do that later.

Right now he just wanted to forget his troubles and be with his family.

The three of them shared a look, and promptly burst into laughter. Blinky saying indignantly over them; “What is so funny? Is it something I said?”

That only made them laugh harder.

Much to Blinky’s irritation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The part about the TV static being addictive to troll's actually comes from the original Trollhunters book by Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus, and explains why in Trollmarket there are so many TV's with nothing but static on the screens.
> 
> Thanks for reading this far! And for the comments and kudos, they really encourage me to keep writing!


	8. chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter and Barbara run into some trouble in the forest, and Walter meets with the Trollhunter, Kanjigar the courageous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anything in bold and italics is trollish.

 They still had daylight to burn and Blinky could understand why Walter wanted to get out of the house, it was probably because of him and the four armed troll still felt guilty about what he had said earlier.

If only Aaarrrgghh had been there to cool the situation, perhaps Walter’s breakdown would not have happened!

Blinky watched dismally as the changeling escaped from the house, followed shortly by Barbara, after telling Jim to stay in the house.

The young human and troll stared at each other awkwardly, and Jim said carefully without meeting Blinky’s many eyes; “We have paint, I think we should fix that.”

He gestured at the long rips in the plaster and Blinky gulped, “I do not know how to paint.”

“That’s alright I’ll teach you. Dad says I’m a good teacher.”

He offered a small smile to the troll, who sheepishly returned it.

 

Alright, Barbara was a hundred per cent sure following her mentally unstable troll husband into a forest was a bad idea.

She was surrounded by the cool green of the leaves of trees, and as she approached Walter she made sure her footsteps were audible so she didn’t startle Walter.

His long ears twitched up and he half turned towards her in surprise, his eyes narrowing slightly, “Barbara, I think it’s best if I don’t have company right now.” He deliberately hardened his voice, making the growls in it more prominent, even if he really didn’t want Barbara to go.

But he really didn’t want to harm her.

Although her look of hurt made him immediately feel guilty.

 

Barbara understood why Walter didn’t want her there; he wanted to protect her from him.

But Walter needed support, and she would give it him, whatever he said against it.

“You really think trying to push me away and scare me off will be better for you? And I’ll quietly go back to the house?” Barbara asked, staring up at him defiantly and holding his gaze until Walter looked away with a small growl, deflating slightly at his rather pointless attempt to push his wife away.

He should know that trying to stop Barbara would never work. Even as a troll.

“No. I suppose not. But right now I’m not exactly stable; I really don’t want to hurt you. And I could have and if I had there wouldn’t have been anything I could have done to prevent it. I hate all of this, not being control and feeling so… helpless.”

Walter keened softly, dismayed at how quick he was crying again.

Barbara stepped closer to him, wrapping her arms around him gently, “It’s alright, and I’m here for you Walt. You don’t ever have to suffer alone.” They stood there quietly, Barbara continuing to hold him until his keening cut off with a small sigh.

Walter rested his head on top of Barbara’s for a second before absently rubbing his cool stone cheek against the side of her neck.

Barbara froze as Walter delicately nipped her ear, his tusks so light against her skin that it tickled.

 

Walter started; he hadn’t meant to do that.

Yet another trollish thing he didn’t understand. Although he didn’t think it was a bad gesture, merely playful, based off how much lighter and, while certainly not fully recovered, he did feel better getting all of those emotions out.

Barbara didn’t seem to mind though, she giggled and lightly swatted his arm, “That tickles!” She chuckled, drawing a smile from Walter; he then had a rather sudden idea on how to quickly get away from the noise of the town, and before his human side could interject and stop him he lifted Barbara up and into his arms, only slightly surprised at how easy it was carrying her.

She yelped and clung on to him tightly, staring up at him in shock, she managed to gasp out; “What are you doing you crazy troll?!” Walter smirked; tilting his head up at the branches of the trees overhead; Barbara’s eyes widened and she clung to Walter fiercely and had enough time to say; “Walt! Don’t you dare!”

With a powerful thrust of his clawed feet and a little flap of his wings he was up in a tree.

He grinned down at Barbara, who was glowering at him, although the spark in her eyes showed she wasn’t serious.

 

Barbara was happy that Walter was back to himself, mostly. Although she was still worried about him, sadly there was little she could do about that.

She was going to worry, it was her job to support Walter so right now she could stop worrying and relax. Until Walter had another break down, which she hoped never happened again.

Although that was wishful thinking.

“Are we going to go anywhere? Or are we just staying in this tree?”

Walter raised a stone brow at her, “Alright, hold on then.” And with no further warning Walter leapt to the next tree, almost feeling weightless while being mid-leap.

Barbara yelled, her arms tightening around his neck with a death grip as he came down on the next branch with a thud, barely pausing Walter continued through the treetops, angling his wings so they didn’t tear into the branches surrounding them.

This was a hell of a lot of fun, and Walter could bet that flying would be even more exhilarating and enjoyable than this.

 

And Barbara was no longer scared and found herself whooping excitedly with every leap, the forest blurring past her in a whiz of brown and green.

So she was slightly disappointed when Walter stopped and jumped down to solid earth, setting her down on the ground in a small clearing.

Barbara wobbled, almost falling; however Walter caught her before she could do a face plant.

Walter was panting slightly, bright eyed in excitement at his run through the treetops. Apparently getting turned into a troll had made him more inclined to enjoy physical sport.

Not that it was a bad thing; it just wasn’t like him, the old him anyway.

He was so lost in thought that it took a second to realize Barbara was no longer with him.

And there were animals in the forest that could hurt her.

Where was she?

 

Barbara had wandered away in awe of the tall trees surrounding her. She rarely got so far away from the town and this was incredibly peaceful, being surrounded by nature. She trailed her hand down the bark of a tree spotting a cave nearby, dark and shadowy.

Not at all daunted she curiously stepped towards it, sighing as the cool air brushed by her gently, her sigh turned into a sharp gasp as her foot cracked on something, Barbara looked down and saw her foot had snapped a thick bone in two; gristle still clung to its edges.

Meaning it was fresh.

Her blood ran cold, something lived in this cave.

Barbara stumbled away just as two bright red eyes appeared, glaring at her. With a roar of anger a grizzly bear ambled out, catching sight of her it reared up on its hind legs, wickedly sharp claws shining above her. This was a creature that would have no trouble killing her, and probably eating her.

Barbara screamed, falling on her backside, prepared for the animal’s claws to come crashing down on her.

But nothing happened to her, as there was another roar and Barbara quivered, although this was a different roar, more gravelly and less powerful.

But much, much angrier.

 

Walter had heard the scream of terror that could only be Barbara and had leapt into action, sprinting towards the sound.

Gasping in fear at the humongous bear towering over his wife, claws raised threateningly. Walter rushed forward again, putting himself in-between the bear and Barbara, wings raised protectively.

He roared, the sound instinctive and protective, causing his eyes to widen in amazement at the powerful sound that had emitted from his throat. The bear looked confused for a second, before snarling down at him, there went his hope that the beast would go quietly away back to its cave.

With a flick of his hands his talons thrust out of their sheaths, at least he could use something for defense.

Although everything about this situation filled him with dread, he glanced behind him; Barbara was a safe distance away, back resting against the trunk of a tree her face so pale it was almost white and a shocking contrast against her red hair.

He shouldn’t have looked back, as in that moment of distraction the bear attacked.

Its claws caught him right in the middle, sending Walter flying into a tree with a crack.

He heard Barbara scream his name in alarm, before the bear, with full force, clamped down on his left wing, tearing at the thin leathery like membrane with its teeth.

The bear managed to rip a thin, long stretch of stone flesh away from the leading edge of his wing, causing Walter to yowl in pain. The bear groaned, backing slightly away from Walter, several of its massive teeth had fallen to the floor from tearing at the stone flesh of Walter’s body.

Its gums were bleeding and sore, with bloody stumps were its teeth had been.

The bear inflated with anger and pain, rising onto its back legs in preparation to come crashing down on Walter.

Who felt a surge of raw animalistic rage take over him, how dare this animal attempt to hurt, and potentially kill, his wife? And injure him as if he was some piece of prey.

He was not prey; he was a hunter, a predator.

And he should start acting like one.

Letting out a challenging roar Walter rose up and slashed his talons along the matted fur of the bear’s underbelly, leaving sharp lines of red in its flesh.

Bellowing in confusion, and not used to anything fighting against it, the bear dropped back to all fours.

Although it was clearly not going to back down, as it roared again, stepping towards Walter with murder shinning in its red eyes.

Walter grimly took the opportunity, while the bear was on all fours, to leap onto its back, digging in with the talons on his feet and hands as the bear attempted to buck off Walter by trying to stand up.

Desperately the changeling clung on, his stone body weighing the bear down and preventing it from rising up.

He had to end this, now.

Acting completely on instinct he clamped his jaws, which were way stronger than the bears, down on its grime encrusted neck.

Walter pressed his jaws together, grimacing at the horrible taste in his mouth he wretched the bears neck to the side sharply, hearing a crack as he snapped the animal’s neck.

All the tension in its body leaving, causing it to slump on the floor limply.

Walter’s wings snapped open for balance at the sudden movement. He removed his mouth from the bear’s neck, gagging and cleaning out his mouth with the back of his hand to get rid of the foul taste.

He then sat back on his haunches proudly, on top of the massive animal he had taken down and killed singlehandedly.

The fierce and savage pride in his kill vanished at the look of horror and revulsion on Barbara’s face at the dead bear.

Walter hoped that look was not directed towards him as well, the last thing he wanted was for Barbara to fear him.

 

Barbara didn’t know what to do, she had watched as the fear and panic had vanished from Walter and he had ruthlessly brought down the bear.

For a minute she hadn’t seen him as Walter, as this was nothing like him.

Also his eyes had dilated again, so was he even aware of what he had done?

 

Walter dropped down from the bear with a wince, his left wing was bleeding, droplets of dark red blood staining the grass beneath him and the sudden movement had sent a twinge of pain along the wing’s membrane.

Walter had not taken into account how close he was to Barbara.

Only a small distance separated them from each other, and Walter leaned back on his haunches to give her more space, he was surprised at how comfortable he was in a position that ought to be awkward for him.

Barbara edged slightly away from him, until her back was firmly against the tree behind her, gaze lowered.

So she didn’t see the hurt look Walter gave Barbara at her movement away from him. Although he really didn’t blame her, he did not probably look too friendly after killing a bloody bear right in front of her and she probably thought he was in a similar state as he had been in the house.

“Barbara?” Walter hesitantly asked, tilting his head in an attempt to see her face, Barbara’s head jerked up in surprise at the use of her name, she looked in his eyes, and they were still dilated and had a predatory gleam that she swore had not been there before.

But Walter was undoubtedly aware, which meant he had probably understood exactly what he had done.

Walter really was different now and could, and would, kill if necessary.

 

“Are you alright?” Walter’s stone face was full of concern and his tusked mouth was a thin line of worry.

Barbara shakily nodded; face blanching at the sight of the bear’s carcass behind Walter. He looked behind him with a frown, and raised his wings, acting as a makeshift curtain between the rotten dead bear and his pale wife.

He couldn’t help but hiss in slight pain as his left wing spread, the outer membrane was ragged now and still raw.

Barbara looked at the wound anxiously, “You should try and limit your wing’s movement, and it wouldn’t do you any good causing the tear to widen or losing more blood.”

“I’ll live. Unlike that bear, he’s definitely dead.”

Walter immediately regretted saying that, as the remaining colour drained from Barbara’s face and Walter only barely caught her as she fainted.

 

 

“Walter, do you really think it was necessary to kill that bear?”

It was some time later, they were nearly home and it had gotten rather dark before Barbara had the guts to ask the question gnawing on her insides.

Walter had switched back to being human the minute the dead bear had disappeared from sight.

Barbara was not sure if the change was done deliberately for her sake or just because Walter was more used to being human.

But she wasn’t complaining, it was easier to read Walter’s face, and he was obviously surprised at the question, Walter’s familiar green eyes widening and his ears reddening slightly. “Where did that come from?” Walter asked in confusion, Barbara had been unnervingly quiet for the majority of the journey, and he hadn’t dared to try and talk to her.

“Just something I was wondering about.” Barbara admitted, feeling her face flush at how ridiculous that question sounded.

Especially since Walter was human right now and she was beginning to doubt Walter would do something like that if he had been in control of his actions.

So she was surprised by what he said next; “I do think it was necessary.” He put a hand up to stop Barbara speaking, as she looked as if she might disagree, “If I had not been there the bear would have undoubtedly killed you, and if I hadn’t fought back I would have been injured badly, as I doubt it could have killed me in troll form. And the bear refused to back off, I wouldn’t have killed it if it had ran away.” Walter held her gaze, and Barbara knew he was telling the truth.

It had not been unnecessary after all; Walter had literally been in a fight for survival and in order to protect her.

Nothing else.

She sighed in relief, gripping Walter’s warm hand firmly, “I’m glad we’re still OK.” Barbara said.

“I am too.” Walter smiled; relieved everything was alright for now.

 

 

Vendel was tired of waiting. The changeling should have been here by now, and yet he wasn’t.

Kanjigar tapped the sword of Daylight on the stone floor absently, “You said he would be here.” The Trollhunter reminded Vendel grouchily.

“He will come, have patience Kanjigar.” Before the Trollhunter could respond the changeling in question stumbled in, without Blinkous.

The four armed troll had probably ditched Stricklander in order to meet up with Aaarrrgghh.

Vendel shook his head in mild disgust, before focusing on the changeling in front of him.

 

Walter gulped nervously, as well as the stern elder of Trollmarket there was an armored troll. But the armor was unlike anything Walter had seen before; it was silver and blue and seemed to glow subtly with a light of its own.

Over the troll’s heart gleamed a beautiful amulet, the delicateness and integrity of its workmanship was incredible. The large broadsword casually held in one of the troll’s large gauntleted hand was not lost on Walter.

It looked lethal.

The troll regarded him with wary amusement, his eyes settling on Walter’s wings momentarily.

**_“This is him? He looks scrawnier from up close than he did from afar. Are you sure_** **_about training him? He wouldn’t last a day! And he is still a half-breed, he cannot be trusted. Once able to wield a weapon he would more than likely stab us in the back!”_** The armored troll snorted, his nose ring clattering.

Walter glared at Kanjigar, **_“I understand what you are saying troll.”_** He spat, making the word sound like an insult.

Walter couldn’t help but smirk at the twin looks of disbelief on the two troll’s faces at his statement in their native language.

 

Kanjigar had half a mind to ram Daylight through this insolent impure, who dared to disrespect him.

But unfortunately he couldn’t, Vendel would have his head if he let his anger control him and allow him to kill the changeling.

“Ah, so you do. My apologies Stricklander.” Walter started, remembering the troll name himself, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh had decided on.

“Who are you, if you don’t mind me asking?” Walter asked curiously, wanting to change the subject in case the troll decided to try and do anything to him. “I am the Trollhunter, protector of troll kind, Kanjigar the courageous.” Kanjigar puffed out his chest in pride and then glowered at the changeling who had snorted on the word ‘Trollhunter’.

“What is so funny?” Kanjigar demanded.

“Trollhunter makes it out that you hunt yourselves.” Walter said in bemusement, while trying to fold his wing more comfortably, it still stung from where he had been mauled and this discomfort must have registered on his face as Vendel came over to him.

The elder tapped his left wing claw gently and on reflex it sprang open, showing the raggedness of its edges and the small beading of blood that still stubbornly clung to his stone flesh.

“Hmmm. How did you manage to injure your wing, Stricklander?” Vendel asked.

The changeling hesitated, and Kanjigar poked him in the side, “Vendel asked you a question.” Walter glared at the Trollhunters gauntleted hand in annoyance, before deliberately turning away from Kanjigar and only meeting Vendel’s eyes stated; “I ran into some trouble in the forest with a massive lump of a grizzly bear, which was why I was late.”

 

When Walter and Barbara reached home finally they had both been surprised to see the clawed wall had been repainted, rather well, by a paint splattered Jim and Blinky.

It had been turbulent recounting the bear attack, as he couldn’t say a sentence without being interrupted by a comment or question from Blinky or Jim.

Which he found understandably frustrating and Barbara found amusing of course.

Once inside Trollmarket Blinky had ditched him in favor of searching for Aaarrrgghh, outside the heartstone.

Which had calmed Walter down considerably, the blue troll was not fully forgiven for his harsh words earlier.

The warmth and power of the heartstone had also contributed to Walter being calmer and more prepared for the two troll’s.

Back in the present moment, Walter watched as the elder scratched his knobbly horn in a rare show of confusion, “You do not mean to say, in broad daylight, as a human, you faced a creature that can easily injure an inexperienced troll? Do you?” Kanjigar too looked skeptical, his blue eyes suspicious slits.

“Oh, even in troll form I’m immune to sunlight.” Walter said absently, enjoying the looks of shock on Vendel and Kanjigar’s faces.

“Very, very interesting. There are a few special troll’s with sunlight immunity, but they are few and far between. Normal changelings are not able to go in sunlight in their troll forms. This makes you even more unique, but what of the bear?” Kanjigar asked, smiling inwardly, the chances were the changeling had not killed the bear, being a human originally and having no weapon.

 “I killed it.” Walter stated matter of factly, feeling proud of his achievement, even if the human part of him was absolutely horrified and disgusted at the new troll side of him.

Kanjigar nodded in grudging respect, “You will make a fine warrior, once properly trained in the art of combat. A bonus being you will be able to fight in the day and use your wings to scout for us.” Vendel stroked his beard in thought, before nodding in agreement to Kanjigar’s statement.

Walter gave a short growl of alarm, “You want me to learn how to fight?” The human part of him was definitely freaking out now, although the troll part of him was eager to learn. Great, now it was like he had a split personality waging war on his insides.

Why had this happened to him of all people?

“Yes. Do not worry Stricklander, I will go easy on you, you don’t have to worry about being stabbed in the back.” Kanjigar winked at the changeling lazily.

And Walter found this troll marginally less annoying. Perhaps this Trollhunter was not so bad after all.

“Alright, but my wife is not going to be impressed.”

“You do not have to tell her.” Vendel said absently, raising a stone brow at the changeling and leaning on his heartstone staff casually.

“Of course I do! I’m not going to lie to her, we’re partners, and we have to be honest with each other. Otherwise how would she trust me?” Walter protested fiercely.

And both he and Kanjigar could only gape at the elder of Trollmarket, who gave a deep rumbly chuckle. “That is exactly what I wanted to hear, I like you Stricklander and I hope to see more of you in the future.” Walter blinked in confusion, before asking hesitantly, “If that was you dismissing me, where is the library?”

Vendel laughed, causing Kanjigar and Walter to jump in surprise, the old troll pointed at the Trollhunter.

“He will show you were it is.”

And with that Vendel shook his head in amusement before ambling off.

Leaving the troll and changeling standing together awkwardly.

 

 

 

 


	9. chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter explores Trollmarket, meets Draal and begins his training under the guidance of Kanjigar the courageous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, anything in bold and italics is Trollish.

  Walter followed Kanjigar curiously, wondering absently if he could find his way back to the library on his own the next time he came here.

The Trollhunter cleared his throat at an arched doorway, blocking the way in with his impressive bulk. “When the majority of troll’s have packed up their stalls and the sun rises we will begin your training. I will come for you here. But you can explore around our city.” Walter blinked, brain going blank for a second before he registered what Kanjigar had said.

If he was still here in the morning any chance of going to work was gone.

He had to tell Barbara that he would still be in Trollmarket so she could call the school telling them he wouldn’t be in. at least principle Levit would believe her, Barbara being a doctor and all.

“I need to tell my wife then.” Walter said firmly, his wings fidgeting slightly at the stern and narrow gaze the Trollhunter gave him.

“I suppose you will call her on your human speaking device?”

“My phone, yes. Although I have to switch back to my human form to make my call.” Walter said apologetically.

Kanjigar sighed, “No one comes here except Blinky and Aaarrrgghh normally, so if you are quick you may.”

That was oddly understanding of him, nodding warily in thanks Walter focused and in a flash of bright green light switched back to human form.

 

Kanjigar was still slightly horrified that a changeling was in Trollmarket and he was expected to train him.

But seeing Stricklander as a human was unsettling, and a feeling of wrongness crept over him.

This was an unnatural creature, which should be destroyed, not tolerated!

And yet the changeling still had no apparent fear of Kanjigar, despite the fact Stricklander was currently a very squashy fleshbag.

Stricklander talked for a while into his ‘phone’ before eventually tucking it into his pocket.

“Alright. That’s sorted,” Walter sighed in relief only to stop with a gasp as Kanjigar stopped him with a gauntleted finger. “You cannot roam around human, changeling.” There was no sympathy in Kanjigar’s face only cold disgust.

Walter sighed reluctantly, glancing at his claw free, human hands wishfully.

Although he was not sure he would be able to read trollish while human anyway.

He gave another sigh and refused to acknowledge the brief hint of pity he thought he saw in Kanjigar’s eyes.

Walter shed his human form yet again, feeling better now he had thick stone skin in between himself and Kanjigar.

The Trollhunter made him nervous, even though he thought he had hid it well from him.

Kanjigar nodded once and lightly brushed past Walter and down the corridor.

 

Walter turned away from the passage the blue troll had occupied and walked into the library.

He was met with the sight of hundreds of books, crammed into the shelves lining the walls and lying on the floor in hazardous stacks of musty smelling tomes.

How would he find any particular book in this mess?

He carefully winded his way through the stacked books and to the shelves, squinting to see one of the titles.

The runes made perfect sense to him, which still took Walter by surprise.

This book was titled _Anatomy of the troll_ , which immediately piqued his interest.

Barbara would probably find this fascinating, but learning about his new body was important for him too. He gripped the book carefully in his claws and eased it off the shelf, stepping around the pile of books on the floor and settling down in a nook in between two jagged pieces of rock jutting out of the library’s wall.

Walter half spread his wings, leaning them against the cool stone and stroked a claw along the books front absently.

And flinched as he looked down at his hand, green, knobbly and ebony clawed.

He was seized by a sudden feeling of depersonalization, this was not him, how could it be? This wasn’t right; his own body didn’t feel like his own, it felt alien and wrong.

Walter took a deep breath in, trying to clear his mind from all this panic attempting to swamp him.

He leaned his head back, momentarily closing his eyes as he forced himself to calm down.

This was part of who he was now and he had to learn to accept that.

Opening his eyes with another deep breath in, Walter began to read, losing himself in the books thick musty pages.

He learnt a lot about horn structure and how troll bones were made of dense crystals that could support a whole stone body.

And troll blind spots, which could come in handy against his training spar against Kanjigar.

The illustrations in the book were stunningly rendered and detailed and there was even a drawing of a pair of wings that was labelled and explained how they worked and functioned. The muscles, tendons and ligaments were clearly shown and explained how they worked.

It was by far the most interesting page he came across, next to the page about a troll’s cranial capacity being much larger than humans. He spotted a foot note stating that troll’s could memorise things quicker than any other creature on earth.

That was incredible.

He would have read more if he hadn’t heard the familiar voices of Blinky, great, and Aaarrrgghh.

 

He deposited the book on a nearby stack before standing up, taking care not to knock his wings into the book piles; he didn’t fancy suffocation by being under a heap of books.

Walter softly made his way towards the sound of voices, the two trolls both started upon seeing him.

Aaarrrgghh blinked slowly, “Found him.” Ah, so these two had been looking for him.

“How long have I been here for?” Walter asked politely, refusing to look at Blinky directly.

The four armed troll shrugged, “More than a few hours, I think it should be midnight soon.”

“Oh.” If Walter wanted to explore Trollmarket, now was the time to do it.

And he would not ask for help navigating the city. He would find his own way around.

He brushed past Blinky and Aaarrrgghh, ignoring their calls for him to come back.

 

 

He should have asked the two trolls to accompany him and not let his pride get in the way.

He was hopelessly lost.

Although it had been fascinating roaming among these stone creatures and experiencing their marketplace.

Trolls of all shapes and sizes hovered in front of stores, bartering, buying food and weapons and generally being loud.

Walter’s heightened sense of hearing was not helpful when there were so many sounds swirling around him, giving him a mild headache.

Walking past a neon sign depicting what appeared to be a cat, he glimpsed a troll scarfing a cat down his throat alive.

Horrified, Walter quickly hurried away, feeling a small stab of pity for the animal.

That explained why so many cats in this town disappeared.

The rest of the food the troll’s were buying smelt delicious, although it looked weird and some troll’s appeared to be eating rocks and even strong smelling socks, that made him curl his lip up in disgust.

Walter wouldn’t be trying any troll food just yet, especially when he had no idea of what would be palatable for his new troll taste buds.

Walter was noticing he was getting a few odd looks, most of them focused on his wings, which he self-consciously wrapped around his body in a lame attempt to try and hide himself.

This was one of the reasons for Walter to take to the winding backstreets of Trollmarket, to get away from all the loud noise and suspicious looks.

And now he was, unbelievably, lost.

Even though he had thought he could use the Heartstone as a reference point to avoid it.

But he couldn’t even see the Heartstone from where he was currently!

Walking aimlessly, Walter was eventually halted by a beautiful painting done on a piece of smooth stone, next to a shop that declared it sold various leather items on a sign hanging over the painting.

Which depicted a night sky, a shooting star whizzing through the deep navy of the paintings sky.

Blues, purples and greens floating through the twinkling dots of silver that were stars.

It was like a piece of sky had been cut out and dropped here.

Curious, Walter stepped through the beaded curtain that was in place of a door to the shop, only to be yanked back sharply, sending a burst of pain to his head.

“Bloody hell.” Walter muttered in annoyance, his horns had somehow gotten tangled up in the beads, and a sharp tug forward didn’t help. It only made his horns get even more choked by the small beads hanging from the long pieces of string.

Dismayed, he reached up with his hands and attempted to free himself, claws scratching uselessly at the small knots.

Out loud, Walter said crossly; “Get off of me!”

To his immense shock the beads unravelled from his horns with a small clatter.

Almost like magic.

Walter warily stepped away from the entrance of the shop, too relived to be free to actually think about how he had managed to get out of that situation so quickly.

He turned his eyes to the cave and gaped in wonder.

The cave was lit by massive, golden glowing stones that nestled in carved niches all along the walls, along with various leather merchandise, ranging from clothing to hand guards and sword grips. 

The floor was covered in thick animal pelts, a glance around showed there was a range of exotic African animals here, including zebra, leopard and giraffe. Walter wondered how many animals had died for all these skins with a wince, before scanning the rest of the room.

There was a smooth stone counter on the right hand side of the cave with another bead curtain leading further into the shop and wanting to see more, Walter padded forward.

His clawed feet sinking into the lush pelts below him as he admired the paintings covering the left side of the wall.

Some were very abstract, while others were hyper realistic paintings of African Savannah's and animals.

He was so busy gazing at the paintings Walter almost jumped out of his skin at the raspy voice that spoke right next to his ear in Trollish, ** _“Hello.”_** Walter’s wings almost knocked one of the paintings off its hanger as he turned to the troll that had startled him.

It was Frimson, the sikarak troll he had saved from being harassed by a group of young troll’s.

Frimson regarded him, his red and orange eyes keen and alert.

 Walter could now get a good look at the brown troll. He was clearly old; the fur on his elbows, knees and tail was more grey than black and the massive geodes growing from his back were chipped and ragged. And the two pairs of horns curving back from his head were dull and worn.

**_“You are the troll who stopped those whelps destroying my paints.”_** Walter fidgeted under the  sikarak’s scrutinising stare, but nodded. **_“Then come.”_** Dropping onto all fours the Sikarak winded towards the back of the shop, Walter trailing him curiously.

He came up to the troll just as Frimson took out a beautiful, almost black, leather satchel, with Trollish runes bordering the edges of its front flap that glowed gold in the light of the stones around the cave.

Remembering to talk in Trollish, Walter asked in fascination; **_“What is that made of? I’ve never seen that kind of leather before.”_**

Frimson smiled, **_“That is because it is Hyena leather.”_**

Walter didn’t know what to say to that, but the satchel was really well made, and gently running a claw along its surface the leather was so smooth and soft it was hard to believe a troll had made this.

**_“This is for you.”_** Frimson stated.

**_“What? I couldn’t possibly accept this for free!”_** Walter protested.

But Frimson was insistent, the brown troll grasped Walter’s hands in his gnarled claws and looked him in the eyes seriously; ** _“No one has ever defended me from those whelps before, or anyone who bullied me because I was not like the rest of the troll’s here. But you did. Think of this as repayment for your kindness. It is the least I can do.”_**

Walter was momentarily speechless, he had wondered how he would carry things while in troll form and this was the perfect size for tacking small things with him.

Like his mobile, so he didn’t have to switch to human form every time he had to check his phone for messages.

**_“Thank you.”_** Walter smiled at the sikarak in gratitude and Frimson smiled back warmly.

Walter took the thick strap of the bag in one claw and managed to fit it over his right wing and onto his shoulder, tightening the strap so the leather satchel sat just under his wing comfortably.

He asked for directions back to the library and the old troll gladly obliged him, Walter trying his best to take in all the information.

He really did not want to roam around aimlessly for another hour.

Thanking the sikarak again, he walked out of Frimson’s shop, and glancing at the empty streets, hazarded a change back to human form.

It was too risky staying human for longer than to take his phone out, which he did, and then change back to his troll form.

Giving a wishful sigh once a troll again, Walter tucked his phone away just as an orange troll walked out one of the alleys opposite Walter.

Who froze, wings trembling slightly, had he seen him change forms?

The orange troll looked at him, shrugged and said; “Whatever,” before walking into Frimson’s shop.

Walter sighed in relief before setting off for the library and to await Kanjigar.

 

 

When Walter finally reached the library, he could hear two familiar voices on the other side, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh had obviously stayed in the library in the time he had been gone.

Walter walked into the library and Aaarrrgghh immediately noticed him, “Changeling back.” The Krubera announced causing Blinky to spin around to face the changeling, who was standing a distance from the two troll’s near the entrance of the library.

A fine satchel casually slug across one shoulder.

“Where have you been? And where did you get that from?” Blinky questioned worriedly, pointing with a finger at the satchel.

**_“Frimson gave it to me.”_** It was only after he had said it Walter realised he had spoken in Trollish.

But before either Walter or Blinky could continue speaking heavy footsteps sounded from behind Walter, who quickly walked forward until he was beside Aaarrrgghh to make room for the two troll’s entering the library.

The first to enter was Kanjigar, still in his gleaming armour, looking incredibly cross.

Trailing after the Trollhunter was an unfamiliar troll. Big, blue and covered in spiked shards of stone, with a bristling rack of horns and a nose ring similar to Kanjigar’s.

His red and yellow eyes widened upon landing on Walter, “Why is there an impure in Trollmarket father?” The spiky troll growled dangerously, leering threateningly at Walter, who couldn’t help but snarl at the bigger troll, especially at being called impure again.

Kanjigar frowned, “Draal, my son, forgive me. I did not have time to explain and warn you about Stricklander. As I was busy with my Trolllhunting duties.”

Draal snorted bitterly, “Busy Father? That is a load of bulsigal and you know it.”

Walter could only gape in dismay at the Trollhunter and his son, not expecting Kanjigar to have a child and appalled at how strained their relationship seemed to be.

He had always made sure he had time for Jim, which Kanjigar obviously didn’t do for his son.

His concern vanished as the teal troll stomped forward, thrusting his face close to Walter’s aggressively. “You still have not told me why there is an impure in Trollmarket and you all seem fine with it!” Spittle flew onto Walter’s face with a splat.

Walter narrowed his eyes at Draal, before making a show of wiping the spit off his face like it didn’t bother him and flicking the sticky strands into Draal’s face, sending it up his nostrils and into his eyes.

Draal roared, stumbling back, wiping his face to clear his eyes and nostrils furiously.

Opening his eyes he inflated with anger at the small self-satisfied smirk the changeling gave him.

Only to be stopped by his father planting the sword of Daylight in between him and the impure, who warily backed away from the shinning sword.

“Enough! You cannot harm him; myself and Vendel have decided he has use to us.” Briefly Kanjigar explained Walter’s origins and Draal calmed down slowly.

Giving the changeling one last glower of disgust, the son of Kanjigar the courageous stomped out of the library.

 

After that, Walter and Kanjigar left the library to begin Walter’s training.

The armoured troll led the way, until the tunnel opened out to a massive cavern, surrounded by lava.

Kanjigar made his way over the narrow bridge connecting the arena to the passage they had come out from, Walter hurrying to catch up, craning his head back to gaze up at the impressive statues that surrounded the massive space.

“What is this place?” Walter said in amazement.

“Welcome to the hero’s forge. Where all those who fight and train here are guarded by the watchful gaze of past Trollhunters.” Kanjigar gestured to the statues surrounding the forge and Walter blanched in shock, “You don’t mean…”

Kanjigar nodded gravely, guessing what the changeling was thinking by the look of shock on his face. “Even after death, my predecessors watch over me, their bodies mounted up here so in a way they will live forever.”

Kanjigar watched the changelings look of disgust and shock turn to one of awe and respect.

The Trollhunter was surprised at how accepting the changeling was. He was not like the other changelings, that was clear. Although he still could be pretending, and secretly be a spy.

If that was the case, he wouldn't have any qualms killing Stricklander.

 

Kanjigar stepped into the middle of the arena, beckoning Walter to step close to him.

Once the changeling was close by, Kanjigar summoned Daylight, causing Stricklander to gasp, and threw it into the forges mechanisms, which started it up.

With a grind of machinery the forge lifted up, up into the air. Almost causing Walter to fall over in alarm, he digged his claws into the stone below him, wings half flaring out for balance. He gazed wide-eyed at the sudden chaos surrounding them.

Massive scythes swung, fire erupted out of small holes in the floor and rotating platforms rolled around the massive centre of the forge, dipping up and down.

The spot they were standing in was bang in the middle of this madness, the only spot not moving. Walter turned to Kanjigar in disbelief, “Why are we here?”

He frowned in confusion at the slightly evil smirk the Trollhunter gave him, “To do this!”

And with that Kanjigar pushed Walter off the top of the hero’s forge.

 

Walter yelled, arms waving wildly as he plunged down, and then one of the rotating platforms materialised in front of him, Walter’s eyes widened in horror, instinctively, he made his body more aerodynamic, arms to his sides and legs straight out behind him.

Walter snapped open his wings, and banked around the massive stone slab, sharply tucking his wings in to go through the gap in between two gears that was part of the inner machinery of the forge.

Walter beat his wings hard in order to gain lift, shooting up above the forge, away from the dangers of its wild spinning.

The view was incredible, Kanjigar a small gleaming ball of silver from way up here.

And then he realised, he was airborne, hovering above the massive stadium, like a bird.

He was _flying._

 

Kanjigar watched with a smirk from his place in the middle of the forge as Stricklander wobbled through the air and landed clumsily on a small outcropping of stone next to one of the past Trollhunters, and as close to Kanjigar as possible.

His claws gripped the rock below him tightly, his wings hanging limply.

He glared at Kanjigar, yellow eyes glowing faintly.

The position the changeling was in and the way Stricklander was looking at him fiercely reminded the Trollhunter of the gargoyles that adorned some of the human buildings he had seen in his many travels, making him smirk.

Walter growled at the smirk the Trollhunter gave him, “Why did you do that? I thought we were training me. Not bloody pushing me off from high up places!”

He had to shout to be heard, and he could just about hear Kanjigar’s response, “Seemed the best way to test if you could fly and it worked. Perhaps you should try on your own?” Kanjigar suggested with a sharp grin at the look of anger and annoyance on the changelings face.

Walter huffed; Kanjigar obviously didn’t care about his safety.

He craned his neck down to look at the steep drop below.

He had been too busy trying not to go splat on the floor to actually enjoy his mad dash of a first flight but it had been like nothing he had ever experienced.

Greater than anything he had ever done, and no one here, troll or human had experienced this.

He had to try again.

Setting his jaw in determination, Walter fell off his perilous perch, wings tucked in close to his body as he dropped.

The wind caused by his passage tearing at his eyes, he squinted at the fast approaching ground, Walter spread his wings out, catching a breeze of air under him, instinctively his wings beat up and down in a steady rhythm, propelling Walter up above the still crazily spinning forge.

He took a deep breath, and folded his right wing.

Going into a steep bank, instead of levelling off to continue straight flight, Walter kept banking, going upside down momentarily before he was level again.

Giving a delighted laugh he did another roll in the air, wings pressed to his sides as he spun around. Flaring his wings out, Walter pumped his wings to gain more height, hovering in the air he smiled gleefully.

Before spiralling almost all the way to the floor in a tight corkscrew, his surroundings nothing but a vivid swirl of bright colour.

He waited until he was almost touching the ground before swooping up again; tilting backwards, Walter did a loop the loop, grinning fiercely at the speed and sharpness of his flight.

 Giving a loud whoop of utter exhilaration Walter did another loop in the air, this time slowing down, so that when he was upside down he had gone into a stall, wings completely still, Walter folded them quickly to his sides, dropping like a stone, he breezed through one of the forges rotating platforms and heard Kanjigar call his troll name impatiently.

Flying over he heard Kanjigar yell, “If you are quite done, do me a favour and shut the forge!”

The Trollhunter pointed to a lever on the opposite side of the forge on the ground.

And Walter had to pass through  fire and swinging platforms to get to it.

 

Gulping nervously, Walter nodded to the Trollhunter and flew under one of the rotating platforms successfully, only to almost fly into the platform waiting behind it, whacking the edge of his left wing painfully on the coarse and worn stone.

Wincing in pain, Walter dropped down, fighting to regain his balance in the air.

Frantically flapping, Walter just about dodged the fire that erupted from the floor, burning him fiercely on his chest and arms and narrowly avoided a massive swinging blade, which clipped his right wing.

This then sent him in an uncontrollable spin that eventually deposited him face first on the floor.

  Groaning in pain, Walter raised his head, sighing in relief at the nearby leaver.

He crawled up to it and pulled it down, using it to claw himself upright. There was a click and the forge shut off, fire, blades and rotating platforms disappearing into the floor.

Kanjigar strolled over to him casually, “That was impressive, considering you’ve never flown before. Although you look a bit…singed.” Walter growled at the mocking tone and smirk the Trollhunter gave him in irritation.

Flying had been incredible while it lasted, but now his joints hurt, especially his shoulders and wing muscles, which felt cramped after his energetic movement through the air.

He was ready to go home, have a long shower and eat something hot.

Kanjigar smirked smugly at the tired changeling. “We’re not done. We have not even begun hand to hand combat yet!” Walter groaned in dismay, tensing slightly, with the Trollhunter being armour clad from head to foot he wouldn’t stand a chance.

So he was shocked when with a bright flash of blue energy the armour disappeared, amulet dropping into Kanjigar’s expectant hand and tucked it into his short and coarse trousers.

Just like every other troll Walter had so far seen engravings adorned Kanjigar’s body, which was a royal blue all over that had many chips and scars all over.

Walter raised a stony brow at the troll, “Alright, so your armour is magic. Is that supposed to impress me? I’m still going to get my ass kicked.”

Kanjigar laughed, “You will, but like I said, I will go easy on you.”

And with that the Trollhunter charged, swinging a fist towards Walter’s face.

Yelping, Walter dodged to one side, only to be tripped up by an outstretched foot and pinned to the ground.

“If I was an enemy, you would be dead.” Kanjigar stated, before leaning off Walter and offering a hand to help him up.

Walter took it reluctantly; this was not going to be fun.

At all.

 


	10. chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter goes back home, to find a surprise visitor, and Walter and Barbara have a much needed chat.

“Alright, let us do this for the last time and then you can go to your fleshbag house.” Kanjigar huffed out, finally, after a seemingly endless time this torture was nearly over.

Walter had been wacked around and now felt like his bruises had bruises. At first it had been okay, even fun, learning the basics of fighting and even handling a sword. Although he had only used it for learning some basic points and positions.

He was pretty sure Kanjigar didn’t trust him to wield a sword for very long.

But after the swords were put away Kanjigar said they would spar until Walter managed to land a hit on the Trollhunter. Walter thought that wouldn’t be hard, he was badly mistaken.

For such a large troll, Kanjigar moved with a fluid grace that enabled him to dodge all attempts to land a blow on him with Walter’s claws. By now he was tired, sore and ready to give up. But upon hearing this was the last match, new determination filled Walter.

Perhaps he was doing this all wrong. He was blindly rushing Kanjigar, and the other troll was able to see him coming and counter strike.

Sending the changeling flying into the floor more times than he could count.

But if he could use his new knowledge of blind spots to his advantage, he may be able to land a hit.

Taking a deep breath, Walter watched Kanjigar charge him.

And ducked under his arm, swiftly moving behind the blue troll.

Kanjigar whipped around, fist flying forward, and met nothing but thin air.

He realized what Stricklander might do seconds before the changeling did it, claws raking down the underside of the Trollhunters arm.

Instinctively, Kanjigar trapped the changelings hand by pinning it under his heavy arm, spinning in a short circle to disorientate Stricklander.

Letting go, Kanjigar watched as the changeling fell on his side with a sharp exhale of breath, his wings protectively curling around his body.

Walter braced himself for a blow, but it never came.

Instead the Trollhunter laughed, “Well done. I actually cannot believe you did it. I had thought you would need another session before you could land a blow on me.” Kanjigar looked impressed and Walter felt a brief flash of pride, before looking at the long scratches on Kanjigar’s arm with a wince.

“That doesn’t hurt too badly does it?” Walter asked in concern, he hadn’t exactly been gentle.

Kanjigar snorted, offering a hand to the changeling which he gladly took.

Walter’s legs trembled and he dug his talons into the stone below him, fanning his wings out to keep his balance.

Kanjigar waved a hand dismissively at Walter’s statement, “It is nothing, completely superficial.”

Kanjigar’s view of the changeling, had, well changed.

He was nothing like the others of his kind. Although using his blind spot to land a hit on him was a typical changeling tactic.

Using and relying on intelligence and speed, rather than strength and size. Kanjigar had felt a brief stab of unease, if the changeling learnt so quickly, what would stop him turning on them?

Or revealing their kind to the Fleshbags.

But the obvious concern on Stricklander’s face for his cuts reassured the Trollhunter, for now.

He would see how the changeling progressed.

 

After all that training, Walter was exhausted.

All his muscles were sore, especially his wings. He regretted his energetic usage of them, they were new and he had never flown before.

And Walter had decided to immediately overwork them.

Sighing, Walter followed Kanjigar out of the hero’s forge, through Trollmarket, and up the blue crystal staircase.

“As you know, I cannot follow you out of Trollmarket, so I think it would be easier for you to have this.” Kanjigar reluctantly withdrew an orange, dagger like crystal that Walter recognized as a horngazel.

He stared at the key to Trollmarket in disbelief, “You can’t give this to me! You barely know me, and this means I can come here whenever I want! How can you trust me?”

Kanjigar huffed in exasperation, “If you were to betray us, why would you protest to gaining a key allowing entry to Heartstone Trollmarket? And if you do betray us, mark my words changeling. I will hunt you down and kill you.”

Walter flinched, gulping in fear.

Kanjigar would do it. If he thought Walter was a threat he would kill him.

Shuddering, he cautiously took the handle of the horngazel, quickly drawing an arch in the stone wall, pressing his clawed hand in the middle of the arch as he had seen Blinky do.

In a rush of magical energy the wall collapsed and Walter gazed out in dismay.

It was past midday, he had been here for almost a day!

Walter turned to Kanjigar, “Would it be alright not coming back here tonight?”

Kanjigar nodded, “That is fine by me changeling, I actually look forward to seeing you again for your training.”

With that, Kanjigar the courageous disappeared as the stone portal closed.

Walter opened his satchel, placing his newly acquired horngazel inside next to his phone, before in a brilliant flash of light finally reverted back to human form.

Sighing, Walter headed home.

 

 

After having a shower, Walter felt a lot better.

The warm water had eased and soothed his aching muscles.

Even though he still had the fathom pain of non-existent wings to deal with, which was an incredibly strange sensation.

Walter tried to ignore it and made something to eat, starving for normal food after the mayhem of Trollmarket.

It was just as he was finishing eating he heard the knock on the door.

Walter froze; it couldn’t be Barbara or Jim. He still had half an hour before they should be back.

And whoever was at the door was quite insistent and kept knocking.

Growling in annoyance, Walter heaved himself up, stalked to the door and yanked it open.

To see one Tobias Domsaski standing on his doorstep, a blanket wrapped around him tightly and with bloodshot eyes.

He was obviously ill, why he was here was a different question entirely.

“And what do you think you’re doing here, Tobias?” Walter asked, feeling irritated at the boy’s presence.

“Oh, I was bored, being ill sucks you know? And I saw the light on in the house and thought to myself, hey Strickler’s there, maybe I should go and keep him company, as he is obviously lonely.”

Toby grinned up at him and Walter groaned, rubbing his forehead with the flat of his palm in frustration. “I am not lonely Tobias, I would _love_ for you to go away and leave me alone.”

He attempted to shut the door on him but Toby jammed his foot in between the door, preventing it from closing.

“Yeah, you can’t get rid of me that easily Mr S. I’m bored and cold. You can’t reject a poor ill orphaned boy, can you?” Toby sighed melodramatically and Walter raised an eyebrow at his Son’s best friend skeptically.

“This is California Tobias, in case you have forgotten it's normally hot here and almost _never_ cold.”

“I’m ill Strickler, and anyway why are you here? You don’t look ill at all.” Toby gave him an suspicious look, before bustling inside, pushing past Walter to make a beeline for the kitchen.

Walter sighed in defeat, closing the door with a thud he walked into the living room as Toby came out of the kitchen, munching on a chocolate bar absently. “Hmmm, there must be a reason you’re at home, instead of working at your boring school, being a boring history teacher.”

Toby tapped his chin thoughtfully, staring at Walter narrowly.

Walter glared at Toby. He’d had a long day and the ginger haired boy was testing his patience to the limit.

So he wasn’t surprised when his eyes began to glow, which caused Toby to gasp.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Dude! Your eyes! They’ve gone all glowy and they’re like a freaking werewolf’s!” Toby said, wide eyed in shock, taking a large step away from Walter.

Who finally got his eyes back under control. But before he could start to explain anything, Toby began speaking again, “This must be recent, since I’m pretty sure you were fully human and Jim hasn’t suddenly sprouted fangs or freaky glowing eyes. And that would also explain why I’ve not seen you for the past few days. Is this a controllable thing? Or do you become a man eating monster? Like with no memory of being whatever you turn into, like a werewolf. Would you eat me? I mean the monsters always go for the chubby ones, and I’m chubby!”

Toby finally stopped talking when Walter’s eyes start to glow again, briefly going yellow and red before returning to their normal evergreen colour.

Walter couldn’t help but be impressed with Toby’s detective work, up until the man eating monster part that is.

“I am not going to eat you Tobias, and I’m not a werewolf either. Although you are correct about me no longer being human.” Walter admitted with a breathy sigh.

He was doing a lot of sighing recently.

“Whaaaat?” Toby’s mouth dropped open, fear and panic disappearing in favor of curiosity and excitement.

“So what are you now? Some sorta shapeshifter? And if you’re not a werewolf but a shapeshifter, how did that happen suddenly? Is it painful, switching forms? Are there more magical creatures out there? Do werewolves exist? Does Dr Lake and Jimbo know about this?”

Walter rubbed his temples, feeling the beginnings of a headache due to the flood of questions bombarding him.

 

Walter explained briefly how he had become a changeling, that of course Barbara and Jim knew and he was still the same person in both forms and not a man eating monster but a troll. He also explained Trollmarket, Blinky, Aaarrrgghh, Vendel and Kanjigar.

By the end of it Toby’s eyes sparkled with excitement and awe. “So cool! Can I see?” The ginger clapped his hands together gleefully, looking up at Walter pleadingly.

“See what?” Walter asked smirking at the look of annoyance on the boy’s face.

“You know what. Change into your troll form or whatever you can turn into. Please?”

Walter was pretty sure being so tired and drained; he wouldn’t be able to switch back to human form once a troll again. But he would rather it be on his own terms, rather than because he got so annoyed with Toby he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Alright, just don’t do anything you may regret.”

Toby gulped, but nodded, eagerly watching Walter, wondering how he would look like as a troll.

Focusing, in a burst of green light Walter switched forms.

His wings spreading wide and almost knocking into the table. The phantom pain that had been plaguing him was now a real pain, and his wings dragged against the floor with a slight scrape.

No way would he be able to get enough energy to change forms again.

Good thing he still had his phone in his satchel.

Toby gasped in astonishment. He had not expected Strickler to have freaking wings and be like seven foot tall. But he couldn’t believe what he was made of.

Cautiously Toby stepped closer to Walter, staring up at his yellow eyes and arching horns in disbelief. “Awesomesauce!” He whispered in amazement.

Toby reached out, touching Walter’s arm, “Oh my gosh, I think this is serpentine. How cool is that?”

Walter frowned, “How do you know that?”

Toby jumped at the sound of his voice before saying importantly, “That’s easy, serpentine has a very distinctive look I can recognize anywhere. I think your wings are black onyx, same with those awesomesaucey looking claws. I’m not sure about those horns though, looks like some sort of rocky bone.”

Walter couldn’t help but be impressed by Toby’s knowledge of rocks.

He would get along with Blinky in that regard.

Toby turned his eyes curiously to Walter’s satchel, “What is that made from? I’ve never seen that sorta leather before.” He reached out to run his chubby fingers along the front of the satchels golden runes.

“The troll I got it from, Frimson, said it’s made from Hyena.” Walter answered with a small smirk as Toby yelped and snatched his hand away.

“Ew. That’s nasty man! Why would you want that?” He wrinkled his nose up in disgust.

Walter rolled his eyes, “It’s practical and leather is leather, it doesn’t matter what animal it comes from.” He twitched his wings back and hissed in sudden pain as his right wing stretched.

Toby yelped in alarm, placing one hand hesitantly on Walter’s arm. “Mr Strickler are you alright? Maybe you should sit down.”

Walter grimaced, “Probably a good idea.”

He padded to the sofa and flopped onto it limply, his wings drooping down across the majority of the sofa.

Toby hopped up next to him, flopping onto his belly and wrapping the blanket tightly around him with a faint shiver.

“What the heck was that? I thought you were going to collapse on the floor for a second, is that even possible for a troll?” Walter glanced at Toby, too tired and in pain to answer for a minute.

“Well, I admittedly may have been a bit of an idiot, if I had been more careful none of this would have happened.” Toby sniggered at Walter calling himself an idiot but quickly became serious at the glower the changeling gave him.

It was a hell of a lot scarier with Walter’s sharp tusks and gleaming acidic eyes.

Toby mentally reminded himself not to piss Strickler off too much while he was in troll form.

He may have said he wouldn’t eat him but he could definitely fly him high up somewhere and strand him on the museum roof or something. Walter quickly gave Toby a brief retelling of his training session with Kanjigar and his first time flying, and overworking his new wing muscles in the process.

Toby looked at him thoughtfully and then said with confidence, “I’m sure Dr L can help with that.” Before giving a violent shiver and folding the blanket tighter about is body, his nose sniffling slightly.

Walter’s parenting instincts kicked in, even though Toby could be incredibly irritating at times, he was still part of their family, unfortunately.

After all, there was a reason for Toby being out of school.

“Should I make you some herbal tea? You seem cold.” Walter offered softly.

Toby looked up in surprise, “Are you sure? I mean I know having herbal tea is good for you and warms you up, but can you even make it like that?” Toby said, gestured to Walter’s green skinned, clawed, horned and winged form.

“Just because I’m a troll currently, does not mean I can’t boil a kettle and put a teabag in a mug.”

Walter said in amusement, watching as Toby’s cheeks went red, “Yeah, that was a stupid question. It would be nice to have herbal tea.” Toby admitted.

Walter stared at him expectantly and the chubby boy added hurriedly, “Thank you.”

As Walter got up slowly, wincing as his wings protested at the movement.

He walked into the kitchen, filling the kettle with water and while waiting for it to boil got the ginger tea bags out of the cupboard, setting them down on the kitchen counter. Toby wandered up to him on the other side of the counter, still with the blanket around his shoulders and leaned his head on his arms with a large smirk.

Which Walter noticed, narrowing his eyes he stated with a raised brow, “What is so funny?”

Toby shrugged, “Everything about this. The whole winged troll in the kitchen making tea, doesn’t that sound weird?”

Walter couldn’t help but snort, it did sound pretty ridiculous.

He turned away from Toby in order to get to mugs out before gently tipping the now boiling hot water into both mugs. Steam rising in two vaporous columns. Toby reached over and dunked a tea bag in each mug.

“So do you think you’ll still be able to have human food while a troll?”

Walter had not thought about that, but based on what his troll self seemed to like the smell of, he wouldn’t be eating any normal food while not human.

“No I don’t think so.” Walter answered. Although the tea smelt the same and he wanted something warm to drink.

He picked up one of the mugs in a clawed hand and went back to the sofa, Toby following along behind.

Settling down, he carefully extracted the teabag and Toby politely took it from his claw, depositing his own teabag, as well as Walter’s, in the bin.

Before settling down on the sofa with I relieved sigh.

Walter cautiously took a sip, it did taste the same, but it wasn’t as hot as it should be.

And his instincts were telling him to eat the mug, which was annoying.

Frowning he looked over at Toby, just as he took a long sip, and then yelped. “OW! Hot, hot, hot!” The boy stuck his tongue out, going cross eyed to see the tip of it. “I burnt my tongue, why? And how comes you’re completely fine?”

Walter shrugged, smirking at Toby, before taking a long drought of his tea, almost finishing it. And only feeling a comforting warmth that seeped into his belly slowly.

And then the front door opened, and the distinctive scent of Barbara and Jim wafted in, Walter immediately sitting up, his ears twitching as he waited impatiently for his wife and son to enter the room. Toby glanced at him curiously, before he heard two pairs of footsteps and Barbara and Jim entered the room.

 

Barbara was honestly not expecting Walter to be home.

And if he was home, she was not expecting the sight that greeted her upon coming into the living room.

Her husband sat on the sofa, in troll form, with a cup of tea in one clawed hand and Toby calmly sitting opposite him, wrapped in a blanket with a mug of tea as well. Looking completely unbothered by Walter’s troll form, he waved at her, “Hi Dr Lake, Jimbo.” Toby acknowledged brightly.

Jim was the first to speak, “Dad! You’re back! Although why is Toby here? I thought we weren’t going to tell him about troll’s.”

Walter huffed, placing his mug on the table gently so he could cross his arms in front of his chest. “Toby forced his way in, although I tried to stop him finding out by attempting to shut the door on him.”

“Yeah, and that flopped grandly.” Toby added.

Walter shot a half -hearted glare at the ginger haired boy, too tired and sore to actually get properly annoyed.

And Barbara was staring at him worriedly, especially how his wings lay awkwardly across most of the sofa.

“Jim, Toby, why don’t you two go on upstairs. I need to have a little chat with Walter.”

The two boys shared a look and then Toby hopped off the sofa, grabbed his tea and made for the stairs.

Jim hesitated long enough to give his dad a hug, his stone body cool against Jim’s slightly flushed cheeks. Before rushing after Toby.

Until it was just him and Barbara.

The last time they had been alone together, while Walter was in troll form, had been shortly after the bear attack.

Walter watched as Barbara walked up to where he was sitting. He could _smell_ how nervous and worried she was.

Who knew that had a smell?

Barbara watched as Walter’s nostrils flared, taking in her scent and the subtle widening of his red pupils. And how with every movement of his wings brief discomfort showed on his face. “Walter, you’re hurt. Did someone do that to you? A troll?”

Walter snorted, he could blame Kanjigar for this, but it was really his own fault, and as he was a troll currently, then in that regard he could blame the troll part of him for all this.

Barbara frowned at Walter’s response, which was the opposite of reassuring, before she stepped closer to her husband, hesitantly reaching out her hands towards Walter’s wings.

This was obviously the source of his discomfort.

She still vividly remembered the bear’s death and how predatory Walter had acted; the last thing she wanted was to startle him in any way. “I’m going to feel your wing alright? It might hurt a bit but I need to see how badly you’ve sprained them." 

Barbara placed her hands gently on the bony arm of Walter’s right wing, feeling the tense muscles.

She couldn’t help but be in awe of her husband’s beautiful wings, there was something faintly magical about them and her curiosity was aroused. She needed to learn the anatomy of a wing, in case Walter did more than sprain them.

Barbara put slight pressure on the joints and began to massage, although she found she had to put a lot of effort into it, kneading the areas that had stiffened to try and unclench the coiled and tense tendons.

She moved around to the back of the sofa for an easier position to carry out her massage. Directly behind Walter’s back so she could really get working on his wings.

 

Half an hour later and she was finished and drained.

But Walter’s wings had loosened at least, although the low growl he gave and the careful flex of his wings caused her to gasp and quickly release her hold on Walter’s wings.

Confused, Walter turned around, staring at his wife, who was scanning his face anxiously. “Barbara? What’s wrong?”

She looked at him, noticing how relaxed and comfortable he was.

That growl had scared her for a second, but Walter was still there, not whatever had seized control of him yesterday.

“Nothing. Can you tell me how you injured yourself?” Barbara said, quickly changing the subject.

Walter blinked, before nodding his head in obvious reluctance. “Alright, but I’m not talking unless you come here.” Walter spread one wing out carefully, beckoning to his wife to come and sit next to him.

Barbara walked to the front of the sofa and slid right next to Walter’s smooth stone body, snuggling close to him as his wing curled around her like a blanket.

Walter explained everything, meeting Kanjigar, his gift from Frimson, which Barbara admired, and his first flight.

“You flew? That’s- that’s absolutely amazing! How was it? Was it difficult? Wait- that’s how you injured your wings, you overworked them! Walt, they’re new to you and you immediately overused them.”

Walter pressed his ears flat, lowering his head slightly, “Well. I know not to that again now.”

Barbara stared at him incredulously, tugging one of his ivory horns lightly, “You could have hurt yourself severely, or this Kanjigar may have hurt you.”

“Well, Kanjigar was training me how to fight, which did lead to him giving me some pretty impressive bruises.” Walter admitted, trying to prevent the pride in his voice showing.

Barbara paled, looking her husband over, his eyes still gleamed with a predatory alertness and she could easily imagine him being a fierce fighter.

She shivered, it was a scary thought.

“Isn’t there any way for you not to learn how to fight?” Barbara asked desperately.

Walter sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose in a familiar show of frustration. “I think learning how to defend myself, and my family is important. Especially since we’re involved in all this magical nonsense now. I wouldn’t forgive myself if anything happened to you or Jim.”

Barbara had to agree with him there, but… “I know, but I took a Hippocratic Oath to never harm. And now you’re learning how to fight, to injure, and to kill. It goes against everything I’ve been taught. And I’m scared. Of what you could become.”

Walter froze, knowing she was half right.

He himself feared what he could become; after all, what he was now was not even human.

But that didn’t change his core principles; his love for his family, his compassion and his loyalty.

He was still Walter, and nothing could change who he was.

“Barbara, I’m scared too, of a lot of things. I’m not brave, but I can’t allow fear to control me, otherwise I’d be incapable to move on, adapt, _and change._ What I am now may not be what I was before, but it’s just as much part of me. And I’ve got to learn to accept that. Me learning how to fight is _just_ for defense, nothing else, I swear.”

Barbara gazed at him in shock.

She had not expected him to admit he was scared and that he had to start accepting what he was.

Obviously his time in Trollmarket had helped.

“I guess I’m overreacting a little bit. But so much has changed and I can’t help but worry, about everything!” Barbara felt a tear trickle down her cheek, and she furiously wiped it away.

She shouldn’t be crying, Walter was the one going through all these major changes, not her.

But regardless she felt more tears trickle down her cheeks, until she was quietly sobbing, burrowing her head in Walter’s wing. Which curled protectively close to her body, she sniffed lightly, feeling Walter’s cool hand wrap around her shoulders in comfort.

Barbara risked a glance up at Walter, peeking her head out from the shelter of his wing.

He gave a small, reassuring, rumble, the vibrations of the sound thrumming through his body, glowing eyes alight with sympathy.

“Barbara love, of course you’ll worry, but as you said we’re in this together.”

Barbara shakily nodded, adjusting her glasses slightly, she leaned against Walter again. “Yes we are, always.”


	11. chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter pays a night visit to the museum and has a chat with Kanjigar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up!
> 
> Further updates will be sporadic and take longer to post as school is starting and i have my GSCE's ahead.

It was night, the cool air teasing the edges of Walter’s wings open slightly; he sat perched on the highest point of the houses roof, gazing out over Arcadia’s streets.

Toby had gone back to his house, Jim was asleep and he figured Barbara would be too this late.

It had been a long day but Walter hadn’t been able to sleep, which was why he was up on the roof.

His wings were feeling better and he wanted to go for another flight, without any mad dashing around, just calm, level flight.

Giving his wings a light and careful flap, Walter took a deep breath, and leapt into the air with a powerful downbeat of his wings, causing a slight twinge through his shoulders. Wincing, Walter soared up, a wave of excitement filling him at being in the air again.

Stretching his wings wide, he went higher, into the cover of the clouds, he really didn’t want anyone spotting him. Bursting up above the clouds, Walter gave a breathless laugh of amazement, gazing up at the star spangled sky in wide eyed wonder.

Before sliding into a somewhat smooth bank, running a claw through the fluffy whiteness of the clouds below him in delight.

This was remarkable! If only Barbara could experience this too.

He ducked down from being above the clouds cautiously, horned head tilting from side to side in order to get a good view of his town, Arcadia lay before him like a map made of light, the museum roof startlingly close.

How had he flown almost to the center of town so quickly?

Panting slightly, Walter dropped onto the museums tower with a sigh, claws latching into the tiles firmly. And then his blood ran cold.

A gaggle of what appeared to be goblins; he couldn’t think what else these creatures were, with their spindly green bodies, large ears and squashed up faces.

He watched as they lifted one of the museums windows open, creeping in with a loud chatter of laughter and blowing of raspberries. A piece of large rock carefully held in their hands as the goblins made their way in.

Walter gave a soft snarl, whatever was happening here was important, he could feel it.

 

Once he was sure the goblins had gone inside, Walter flapped down from his hidden vantage point, attempting to slow down, with no luck, as he fell flat on his face with a groan.

He really needed to work on his landings.

He crept to the window, peering inside Walter shivered. Even though he had come here many times it was always in the day, now at night all the old relics seemed to have ominous shadows that could hide any sort of monster.

Taking a deep breath in, Walter squeezed inside, remembering to duck his head at the last second so his horns didn’t scrape on the window frame and alert the goblins.

Leaping down, Walter’s claws clattered and he froze.

Expecting a mass of savage goblins to rip him apart. When nothing happened he relaxed slightly, painfully aware he had no right to be here.

He was entering a building, with a lot of valuable objects, at night. This was certainly illegal.

What was he doing?

Walter shook himself and followed the faint sound of clattering claws into the main exhibit hall, quickly pressing himself into a dark corner behind some cargo crates as a women came into view.

Walter frowned, he recognized her, but that was to be expected in such a small town, even if some people he’d only seen in passing and hadn’t even spoken to.

The woman was a psychologist by the name of Rosanne, ‘Rose’, Parr. He had spoken to her once or twice and found her very intriguing.

She was in her early forties, with wild bouncing brown hair with streaks of red shot through it and dancing hazel eyes. Rose was dressed in her usual short, long sleeved black dress, with navy tights and long, sleek black leather boots up to her knees.

A gold snake earring dangling from her left earlobe.

She walked briskly forward, stopping as red eyes glowing; Bular stepped into the light with a growl.

His massive swords lying across his broad scarred back and his lips curling back from his yellowed tusks in a monstrous sneer. Rose gazing calmly up at him, not at all daunted.

Walter trembled, wings shivering in terror. To be faced with the huge black troll, even from the relative safety of his hiding place, filled him with fear.

Luckily, the goblins were no longer in the room, which should make things easier for Walter when he attempted to escape the hall.

The memory of Bular nearly killing him was clear in his mind, even as a troll he would be helpless in the clutches of the Gumm-Gumm prince. Shivering again, Walter watched as Rose bowed, holding up the piece of rock the goblins had carried in, it appeared to be part of something larger.

But it was hard to tell from this distance, even with enhanced vision. “Bular, one of the bridge pieces from Nepal. A few more years and it could be complete.” Rose said.

Bular growled in terrifying glee, “Excellent. You have done well impure. Put it with the others and get out of my sight, I have hunting to do.” Rose nodded, carefully depositing the bridge piece in one of the cargo crates opposite Walter.

Who suddenly knew what Rose was.

She must be a changeling, and she was working for Bular.

The Trollhunter had to know about this, even if he didn’t believe him.

And then his phone rang.

Walter’s eyes widened in horror at his satchel, as Bular let out a bellow of anger, “THERE IS SOMEONE HERE! You were followed!” the black troll snarled at Rose, who trembled slightly, but raised her chin defiantly at the Gumm-Gumm prince.

“I swear I wasn’t, whoever is here I will catch them.”

“Make it so.” Snarling, Bular stomped back into the shadows of the museum and was lost from sight.

Rose watched Bular leave warily, before in a flash of red changeling light took on her true form.

Walter took in a sharp breath of air, he had to get out of here.

Now.

The other changeling was bright red, with a slim tail, long elegant ears and the same gold and scarlet eyes as Walter.

She took a small wooden object out of her tunic, pressing something on it. With a loud click thin blades slid out from both sides, glinting dangerously in the light.

Walter gulped, with a thrust of his clawed feet he skidded out from his hiding place, running around the corner of the hall’s main entrance, the hooves of the other troll clattering behind Walter.

Taking in a gasp of breath, Walter pumped his wings, clawing his way desperately into the air, just as the sword staff whizzed through the air.

It narrowly missed his wing, slicing into his arm instead, before going into the wall opposite him.

Walter hissed painfully, the wound already starting to bleed heavily.

Rose skidded into the corridor, blinking in surprise at the winged troll hovering in the air. His yellow eyes glinting in fear, the winged troll snarled at her, before with a powerful thrust of his wings, went through the nearby windows glass pane, shards of glass scattering everywhere as the emergency alarms went off.

Rose growled in annoyance as she watched the winged troll make his escape.

Bular was going to be very upset, putting it mildly. Eyes glowing brightly, Rose stalked back to where she had last seen Bular, anger simmering in her at having to admit her failure to capture the troll.

Who had most definitely seen her change forms.

Worst of all, she had to make a believable excuse for the smashed window when the human authorities arrived.

Nomura should be dealing with this not her!

But the magenta changeling was overseas, picking up another piece of Killahead Bridge.

Scowling, Rose pulled her weapon out of the wall with a grunt and braced herself for a beating from Bular.

 

 

Walter panted painfully as he crashed onto the roof of his house, his injured arm protectively cradled close to his chest, it was bleeding, and his claws were stained a deep red.

His body covered in small cuts and scrapes from the glass of the window he had burst through.

This was all so unbelievable.

Bular, Rose, his escape from the museum, everything.

Snarling, Walter shakily got himself upright, wings flaring out for balance.

Staggering to the window, he used a claw to prise the bedroom window open.

 

Barbara had woken up to find the other side of the bed cold and empty.

Walter hadn’t been there and panicking she had immediately tried to ring him.

It had gone straight to voicemail.

She had spent the last ten minutes thinking up the worst scenarios, so when she heard the window creak open and the silhouette of her husband’s distinctive wings she was up and next to him in seconds.

The first thing she realized was the deep gash in Walter’s left arm which would need major stitches, her hands came away sticky with dark red blood as she guided him over to their bed gently.

Crouching in front of him, she took his face in her hands, holding his gaze firmly “Walt, I’ve got my medical kit downstairs. I just need to get it and then I’ll be right back, alright?”

Walter nodded, yellow eyes faintly glowing.

He still clutched his arm tightly, to try and stop the bleeding. The sword staff had cut him deeply, almost to the bone, but it hadn’t gone through any nerves or ligaments, at least he thought so.

Barbara looked at him anxiously, “Stay here.” She ordered, hurrying out of the room.

Walter dryly rasped out at her retreating back; “I’m not going anywhere.”

When Barbara returned, Walter was still in the same position she had left him in.

She closed the door lightly, before switching the light on, placing her medical kit down with a grimace. Blood covered the window sill, parts of the floor and bed.

It was a lot of blood.

“Walt, I just need to clean the wound, and then I need you to switch back to human form, so I can stitch you up.” Walter managed a nod, watching warily as Barbara took out an antibacterial wipe and firmly cleaned out the wound, causing more blood to gush out, and flushing the gash of any dirt or glass that may have been trapped inside, causing a fresh wave of pain from the cut.

Walter snarled at Barbara fiercely, moving away from her, his arm protectively curled against his chest and wings bristling slightly.

He knew this was irrational, Barbara was a doctor, and his wife, and she was only trying to help.

But attempting to talk sense into the troll part of him was like talking to a brick wall.

All his troll instincts were saying for him to get out of here, preferably into the forest to a cave, and lick his wounds in the cool dark in peace.

And that was not a good idea at all, and was something an animal would do for god’s sake!

 Barbara’s eyes widened in slight alarm, realizing her mistake.

Walter wasn’t human right now, he wouldn’t respond to certain things the same way.

She had to be more careful.

Walter was a predator, and an unhappy, injured predator currently, he had to be treated with caution.

As much as that bothered her.

“Walter, it’s alright. I’m not hurting you. I just needed to clean out your wound to prevent infection.”

Walter growled, his wings slumping to his sides limply, he rubbed his head with his uninjured arm wearily, “ _I_ know, try telling that to the troll part of me.”

 Barbara couldn’t help but smile, “Alright, I think you should switch back to human form, otherwise I don’t think I’ll ever get you stitched up.”

Walter nodded, gritting his teeth together he managed to switch to human form, although without the strength of his troll form, coupled with his blood loss and the strain of changing forms while injured, it didn’t surprise him when his vision went black and he faded into blissful unconsciousness.

 

When Walter woke up, he found he was on the bed, covered in fresh sheets.

It was still night but the lights were still on.

He glanced at his injured arm, it was tightly bound in bandages, he twitched his fingers, good, he was still in working order.

He looked up, into Barbara’s worried face, “Hey Walt, how are you feeling?”

Walter gave a dry laugh, “Just peachy.”

His wife glared at him, but looked relieved, “Do you think you’re up for telling me what happened? And please don’t tell me it had anything to do with the museum break in that happened tonight that was announced earlier." 

The look on Walter’s face answered that question.

“Walt, what happened?” Barbara was clearly anxious to know, so Walter told her, watching her face go from shock, to fear and finally settle on anger, not at him but Rose, the changeling that had injured him.

Walter winced at the anger in his wife’s eyes, before saying softly; “Well, Rose injured my arm, the rest was me flying through a window to escape.”

Barbara groaned into her hands, “Walt!” When she looked up again, it was with new determination shining in her eyes. “You’re going to have to be able to defend yourself. I can’t have you coming home injured like this all the time whenever you bump into something that's unfriendly.”

Walter brightened, “So you finally approve of me learning how to fight?”

“Don’t push it Walter. Just get some rest.” Barbara said wearily, shutting off the light with a click, before climbing into bed next to Walter’s warm side.

Both of them asleep in a matter of mere minutes.

 

 

“What do you mean you’re not going to check it out? Didn’t you hear what I said? There are changelings working with Bular!” Walter growled, blocking the swinging sword of Daylight by parrying with his own short sword in a clash of steel on steel.

It was the night after Walter’s little incident and he had just explained what he had seen. “You may have imagined it” Kanjigar stated coolly.

“I know what I saw.” Walter snarled, as Kanjigar almost hit his still healing arm.

Although he had healed inhumanly fast, to the fascination of Barbara.

His time near the Heartstone had almost completely healed the deep cut.

“Stricklander, even if it was a changeling what could I do? She can go out in the daylight, I cannot. And you would be foolish to attempt to find her, you would be killed. And besides, it’s not like there is a whole army of changelings out there, working with Bular to somehow bring Gunmar back!”

Walter frowned, the Trollhunter was correct in the regard of him getting himself killed in a search for more information.

But he had a feeling whatever was happening with Bular and the possible changelings would come and bite Kanjigar in the backside.

Kanjigar shook his head at the changeling, "You have no proof. Nothing has happened, now no more talking!”

Walter barely got out of the way of Kanjigar’s next sword thrust, whatever would happen in the future with Bular was down to Kanjigar.

He only hoped the Trollhunter wouldn’t see the truth when it was too late.

 

 

When he arrived home, human again, but bruised, battered and tired, it was to the smell of something burning.

Hurrying inside he was met with the sight of Barbara in the kitchen attempting to cook, again.

Walking further in Walter was met with the sight of Jim and Toby gravely watching from the sofa, Jim with concern, Toby with mild interest.

Which is to say none.

What startled him was the sight of Aaarrrgghh and Blinky also in the room, looking at Barbara failing to cook in interest.

“Blinky? Aaarrrgghh? What are you doing here?”

The six eyed troll turned to him, completely ignoring his question, “It is good to see you Walter, but I cannot believe you told another human! But be that as it may Tobias is a wonderful boy; his knowledge of stones and rocks is almost troll like!”

Before he could respond, Jim said urgently, “Dad, as good as it is to see you, please stop mum before she burns the house down!”

“Don’t worry, Young Atlas, I’ll deal with this.”

Carefully he made his way into the kitchen.

Why Barbara couldn’t leave the cooking to him and Jim was still a mystery.

“My dear, what are you doing?” Walter asked in fond exasperation.

Barbara turned around in surprise, “Walt! I didn’t see you come in, how long have you been here for?”

“I just arrived, before you could set fire to anything.” He answered dryly.

Barbara looked at the burning mess of pasta she was attempting to make with a grimace. “Blinky and Aaarrrgghh said it smelled wonderful.”

“Barbara, they’re troll’s. They don’t have the same taste buds as a human.” Walter said in disbelief.

“Well. They can eat this mess instead of it going into the bin then.” Barbara sighed, stretching out her arms.

In horror, Walter watched as Barbara’s elbow knocked into the pasta pot on the stove.

It wobbled, without a doubt it would tip, sending boiling water onto his wife.

Reacting purely on instinct, Walter switched forms in mere seconds, protectively raising his wing over Barbara as the boiling water in the pot cascaded onto his wing, the charred mess of pasta splatting on the floor.

Walter was immensely glad being made of stone currently; it would take a lot more than boiling water to burn him in his current form.

 Barbara gave a short cry of surprise, she was unhurt, but Walter had taken all the spilt boiling water on his wing.

He gazed down at her in worry and slight annoyance, seeming to be in no pain whatsoever.

Luckily Walter being made of stone had prevented him getting any serious burns.

“Barbara, this is why you don’t cook.” Walter’s voice was a low growl, and Barbara lowered her eyes sheepishly.

As Toby, Jim and Blinky came rushing inside the kitchen in alarm.

 

Within minutes they cleared up the kitchen, until it was like Barbara’s cooking accident had never happened, although it put them off eating anything.

Once seated on the sofa, with Aaarrrgghh and Blinky standing on either side of it, Walter explained to the two troll’s what he had seen last night.

Blinky frowned, four arms crossed thoughtfully. “Well, the changeling would certainly not stick around and without proof you won’t be taken seriously by the other troll’s. I speak from experience.” Blinky said glumly.

“I thought that you’d say that.” Walter groaned, running a clawed hand down his face in defeat.

“Well I will only say I told you so to Kanjigar when it turns out that this was important.” Walter growled, his ears flicking in irritation at these troll’s need of evidence and proof.

Toby spoke up then; “Wait, why can’t you two trolls find and capture this changeling?”

Blinky shrugged helplessly, “I am afraid I do not fight, I am a scholar and historian.”

 Jim frowned, “Dad’s also a historian, yet he’s learning how to fight.”

Blinky blinked, “Yes, but that is his choice, I for one am happy leaving it to the warriors.”

Toby turned to Aaarrrgghh hopefully, if anyone was a warrior it would be the massive Krubera.

Aaarrrgghh shook his massive head, “Pacifist.”

Toby huffed, “Well, that’s a waste of a great hulking brute.”

Barbara shook her head, turning to her husband, “Walt, nothing has happened to endanger anyone. Yet. I think you have to let this go, it’s no good if you bring unnecessary attention to yourself.”

Walter sighed, “I guess you’re right.”

After that the conversation went to more idle topics, although Walter still thought whatever he had seen was very important.

 

 

 

The next week and a half flew by, metaphorically speaking of course.

By then Walter was back teaching at school. Although everyone, fellow teachers and students, were curious as to where he had been.

Walter said he had been ill, and to his relief no one seemed inclined to ask any further about his health.

Although it was harder keeping his cool around hyper teenagers who were looking forward to the summer holiday’s approach.

The temptation of switching forms and making a scene was almost continuously on his mind, and any break he had was spent locked in his office in troll form trying to calm down.

Walter hoped that this was just a phase; otherwise he didn’t know what he would do.

And Walter also continued his training under Kanjigar.

And was appalled at how the Trollhunter treated his son.

Even if the teal troll was always rude and mistrustful of him.

Eventually he couldn’t stand seeing Kanjigar keep brushing Draal off, especially since it happened almost every night.

And Walter was honestly sick of it.

It was after another training session when he asked, “Kanjigar, can I ask why you seem to ignore your son all the time?”

Both of them were sitting on the floor of the hero’s forge, next to the weapon racks.

Kanjigar without his armor, and Walter with his wings wrapped around his body loosely. He had not gone for a flight since his encounter in the museum, too terrified of something happening to him.

The Trollhunter immediately tensed at his question. “What is it to you what I do with my son? It is not like you have one.”

Walter bared his tusks at Kanjigar in mild offense; “I do have a son, Jim. And what you’re doing to Draal is abusive.”

Kanjigar was surprised, the changeling had a human whelp, must be from the red haired human he had seen with the changeling on that first night he had spotted him.

And then it registered what else the changeling had said.

Kanjigar inflated slightly, “I do not beat Draal! What do you take me for? A mindless brute of a troll, like some of the other troll parents, who would abuse their whelps for no reason!?”

 Walter facepalmed with a groan, trust a troll to think there was only one type of abuse and it would be physical.

Flaring his wings, Walter patiently explained that abuse could be mental and emotional too, and that those types of abuse often had more lasting effects.

Kanjigar sighed: “Perhaps that is so, but my duty as Trollhunter means I will not die old, rather in the heat of battle. I cannot spend time with him, knowing it is short. My death will destroy Draal. It is better not being close to him, for his sake.”

Kanjigar expected that the conversation would be over, based on the sympathy on the changelings face showing that he understood what Kanjigar was saying.

But he was wrong.

Walter exhaled with a snort, trying to formulate a response to what Kanjigar had said.

At least he knew what Kanjigar was doing and that he cared about Draal, in his own bizarre way. “If you think you’ll have less time with your son, shouldn’t you spend more time with him instead of less? I mean I have my work, and all this new troll stuff to deal with, yet I still make certain I have time for my family.”

Kanjigar blinked at the changeling, a frown creasing his brow, “Do you still spend time with your fleshbag family even as at troll?”

Walter stared at Kanjigar incredulously, “Of course! Why would becoming a changeling make me stay away from Barbara and Jim?”

Kanjigar saw that the question had generally shocked Stricklander, confused he stated; “Your family are fully human, you are not human at all while in troll form, are you not scared of hurting them?”

Walter growled, “I am scared of hurting them, especially when I’m not even in control of myself sometimes. But they support and love me. Without them I doubt I would have gotten through all this.” His eyes softened as he glanced down at his claws.

Barbara and Jim had in a way allowed him to accept this new him, to a certain extent of course.

He looked back up at Kanjigar, “I really do think you should spend more time with Draal, he will appreciate it. Trust me.”

Kanjigar hesitated, trust a changeling?

A week ago he would have laughed in Stricklander’s face and ignored what he had said.

He still didn’t believe Stricklander had seen another changeling, it was preposterous!

He was Kanjigar the courageous, he would have found out about any changeling in his town ages ago.

But this was different, this was parental advice. And in a situation the Trollhunter had struggled with, alone, for too long. Perhaps he could afford to trust this particular changeling, in this regard anyway. “I will take your words into account Stricklander, perhaps reaching out to Draal is better than pushing him away.” Kanjigar admitted.

Stricklander’s yellow eyes widened in exaggerated shock, “You’re actually taking me seriously!”

Kanjigar frowned, he was almost a hundred per cent sure the changeling was being sarcastic.

But it was hard to tell with him, frustratingly.

The Trollhunter stood up, just as a brass bugle of a trumpet rang out. “By Deya’s grace! I forgot!” Quickly the Trollhunter donned his armor in a swirl of magical energy, Stricklander looking curiously to where the sound had emitted from, his long ears flicking.

“Forgot what?” He asked.

“A troll tribe from India, who call themselves the Dirvana, are visiting. It only happens every couple of centuries. But I forgot they were coming tonight! They are led by their princess, Nebula and her betrothed, Leif. They come to trade, see the Heartstone and seek council from myself and Vendel.” Kanjigar explained briefly.

Walter’s mouth dropped open in shock, troll’s from India, and with a princess!

“Alright, Blinky better have a good reason for not telling me about this when I see him again.” Walter grumped, standing up, he stalked ahead of Kanjigar.

Eager to see the foreign troll’s for himself, Kanjigar’s heavy footsteps thumping along behind him.

 

 

 

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter is introduced to the foregin troll tribe.

Kanjigar was not behind Walter anymore, as the changeling had gone ahead and immediately gotten sucked into the crowd of exited troll’s.

And Walter being smaller than the majority of troll’s meant he was in danger of being squashed.

A large red arm knocked into Walter, sending him careering into another troll, who glared at him before slamming him away with a well-placed lash of a tail to Walter’s head.  
Which upset his balance. 

He was about to do a faceplant in the ground and get completely trampled but was saved by a large grey hand grasping him by the scruff of his neck and lifting him boldly onto a large mossy green back.

Walter immediately latched on with his claws as the Krubera turned to him with a wide grin, “Got you!” Aaarrrgghh stated triumphantly.

Walter gave a relived sigh as Aaarrrgghh stomped through the heaving crowd of troll’s, towards Blinky, who was waving his many hands impatiently. 

Eventually Aaarrrgghh stopped when he reached the corner the six eyed troll was waiting by.

Walter took the opportunity to clumsily drop down from Aaarrrgghh’s back with a light flap of his wings, his claws clicking on the stone floor beneath him. 

He patted the gentle giant on a furry shoulder, “Thank you.” 

He was grateful, without Aaarrrgghh he would have been overrun with dirty and grimy troll’s. 

Although he had hated being scruffed like that, it had been humongously undignified and embarrassing for him. 

Blinky clasped his hands together seriously, “Good job Aaarrrgghh, you got him, now we must make haste. Vendel should be just up ahead.”

Blinky turned, ready to get going but was stopped by Walter grabbing him by one of his upper arms firmly, yellow eyes shinning brightly, he stated calmly, “Why didn’t you tell me about these Indian troll’s visiting?”

Blinky shrugged with a nervous chuckle, “I had thought you would already be aware, it happens every couple of centuries.”

Walter flared his wings incredulously, “Blinky! In case you have forgotten I’m not originally a troll. Why would I know of this visit?”

Aaarrrgghh flicked his ears nervously at Walter’s statement about not being originally a troll, the Krubera put a large finger to his lips, “Quiet, other troll’s might hear.”

Walter nodded his understanding and Blinky quietly apologized for his mistake to the changeling, although Walter waved it off with one hand and asked wherever they were going to get going or just stand around chatting. 

The two troll’s exchanged a look, before leading the way to the long street leading up to the Heartstone.

Once through the swarm of troll’s it was easy to see the distinctive figure of Vendel, who tutted disapprovingly.

The Trollhunter standing next to the elder casually.

Walter stared at Kanjigar in shock, “How on earth did you get here before me?” 

Kanjigar snorted, his nose ring clattering against his stone skin, “Unlike you, troll’s actually know and respect me, and will clear out of my way.”

Walter rolled his eyes, “Probably because they are absolutely terrified of the great and mighty Trollhunter.”

The sarcasm dripping from his words, plus the fact he ignored Kanjigar’s barbed comment, made the Trollhunter evidently lose some of his cool as he gave a low warning growl at the changeling.   
Who raised a brow at Kanjigar’s growl, so much for thinking they were getting along better.

“Oh, and here I thought you didn’t care about what I said.” Walter stated dryly.

Kanjigar growled again, taking a step towards Walter.

The changeling may be trained, tolerated and even listened to, but this insolence he would not stand for!

Blinky and Aaarrrgghh watched on in horror, as Kanjigar looked ready to strangle Walter.

But Walter was saved from a confrontation with the arrival of the Dirvana, all heads turning in the direction of the Indian troll tribe. 

Walter gaped in astonishment, leading the group were two massive Panther-like creatures, black as night with sparkling blue-white veins shot through their rocky pelts, curved horns arching from their heads proudly. 

Sitting astride the larger of the two animals was the most beautiful troll Walter had ever seen.

She was a deep, dark, navy blue, with green markings covering her lithe body, bright blue antlers rising from her head and sparkling purple eyes which gleamed with intelligence and curiosity. 

She was wearing a tightly knotted shawl across her chest and a beaded and mirrored silk-like skirt that flowed down in a cascade of purple material.   
However, it was her hair that was the most distinguishing feature about the foreign troll. 

It was long, black and reached almost to her elegant cloven hooves, with bright gold gems woven through it. 

 

Walter turned his attention briefly to the other newcomers.

One thing all the Dirvana had in common was a stone, the same warm orange as the Heartstone, embedded in their foreheads.   
Walter turned his eyes to the other troll seated on the smaller giant panther. 

He was a light green, quite a few shades lighter than Walter’s own stone skin, and had curved ram horns with large cow ears, wild black hair surrounding his head like a mane.   
He was wearing a simple chain necklace with a tree pendent, and long loose trousers made of the same mirrored silk as the dark blue Dirvana.

The two panthers came to a stop a few yards away from them and the two lithe troll’s dismounted, handing the reins of their mounts to waiting Dirvana, who immediately led the animals away.

Vendel nodded his head respectfully, “Princess Nebula and Lief, it is an honour to welcome you to Heartstone Trollmarket once again.”

Nebula spoke softly, with a lilting Indian accent, in clear English, “Thank you elder Vendel, we are honoured to be here.”

She shifted slightly and Walter saw she had four arms, the upper pair had been tightly folded under her shawl until her movement.   
Walter turned to Blinky in surprise, “She has four arms, like you.”

Blinky rolled his many eyes in exasperation, “Many troll tribes have more than two arms, or legs, in the Dirvana it is seen as a blessing from their God, which is usually portrayed with four arms. Therefore, royal Dirvana tend to have four limbs. Why I think I would be considered royalty if I ever visited India.” The six eyed troll mused thoughtfully. 

Walter turned back to the princess with a roll of his eyes at the statement made by Blinky.   
And met Lief’s wide brown eyes. 

 

The changeling froze as a presence seemed to enter his mind, instinctively Walter grasped the intruders mind, shoving it out with a silent snarl of anger.   
Without really thinking about it, Walter formed a mental barrier around his mind, making certain that he was not going to be taken by surprise like that again.   
It had thoroughly rattled him, that these troll’s had such powers filled him equally with fear and curiosity.   
Although right now fear was definitely stronger.

 

Lief had done what he normally did to anyone new to him and had reached out mentally to the winged troll, the only one in the group he didn’t know.   
In order to gauge his personality and feel his aurora.  
Normally troll’s didn’t notice this contact, they only became aware of his presence if he touched their most recent memories, the limit of the Dirvana’s great gift.  
But upon touching the winged troll’s mind he had almost instantly been repelled, forcefully.   
But he had seen a small shard of a fairly recent memory, a human woman curled up in the shelter of a large wing belonging to the green troll, both of them in a human dwelling, completely content in each other’s presence.   
Leif could only think one thing; this winged troll must be a changeling.  
These thoughts were probably the cause of his discovery, as this was the exact moment he had been flung out of the troll’s mind. 

Lief staggered back with a gasp, almost falling if Nebula hadn’t caught him.   
His ears pinned back, Lief raised a trembling claw to the other green skinned troll.

Walter’s wings bristled, his ears flat against his skull and eyes wide.   
The Dirvana had seen a recent memory of him and Barbara and he had no doubt what Lief would think.   
Sur enough, the Dirvana stated clearly, “He is a changeling!”  
Vendel sighed in annoyance, stamping his staff he stated, “Come, we should continue this conversation in my sanctum.”  


 

There was a tense silence as the group of troll’s regarded each other.  
Kanjigar with weary resignation, Nebula and Lief with confusion and Aaarrrgghh and Blinky with nervousness.  
Walter was feeling a mixture of emotions; fear, curiosity and nervous expectancy.

Vendel sometimes hated being the elder.   
He was too old for all this drama and responsibility, yet without him these troll’s would likely kill themselves due to their wearisome stupidity. 

Vendel was the only one who could control this bunch of idiots and he didn’t want anything to happen to them.  
Even if they got on his nerves.  
“Alright, I am sure you two have questions, feel free to ask them.” The elder said wearily.  
Immediately Lief spoke urgently, “Elder Vendel, if I may, that is a changeling is it not?”  
Before Vendel could respond Walter sourly interjected, “I’m right here you know. I can hear you.”  
Kanjigar rubbed the bases of his horns in frustration, before calmly saying, “Stricklander, one more sarcastic retort and you will find yourself chucked down Gato’s throat.”

Walter turned to Blinky in confusion. Knowing the scholarly troll would know who this ‘Gato’ was.  
The six eyed troll gladly obliged him, “Gato is a jotnar who lives in Argentina. He is like a living volcano and with an appetite to match, he has been known to eat those who displease him.”  
Walter shuddered, a troll as big as a mountain who ate other troll’s.

He hoped he never met this unpleasant creature.  
Or ever got Kanjigar angry enough to chuck him down the jotnar’s throat.

Nebula then stepped forward, sniffing delicately at Walter’s face.

He jerked back, stifling a hiss, the last thing he wanted was to disrespect the elegant navy troll princess.  
“Are you a changeling?” She asked sweetly.  
Walter’s eyes flicked to Blinky and Aaarrrgghh, who were subtly shaking their heads in a clear no.

Walter gulped nervously, “Yes.” He admitted.  
Nebula looked surprised at his honesty and frowned at him, “Lief said the aurora he felt around you was gentle and blue, not chaotic and red, which would be expected from a half-breed.”  
Walter blinked, “I didn’t know I was supposed to be chaotic.”  
“You bring chaos wherever you go changeling, Lief obviously got confused.” Kanjigar muttered loudly.  
Lief shook his head slowly, “No, it definitely came from Stricklander. My power only works if I hold eye contact with the person I am scrying.”  
Walter gazed at Lief curiously, “And how exactly do these powers of yours work?”  
Lief bristled slightly, “I am not telling you anything until I understand why a changeling is being allowed here. It does not make any sense.”  
This was addressed to Vendel and Kanjigar but Blinky was the one who responded.  
“Well it is a very odd story, but I can sum it up briefly.”

Once the six eyed troll had finished speaking both Dirvana looked at Walter in disbelief.  
Nebula was the first to speak, “A human with the ability to turn into a troll, it is unheard of!”

It was at that moment Kanjigar decided he had enough and declared, “I am going to assist the Dirvana in setting up their camp, Aaarrrgghh I will need your assistance.”  
The Krubera looked up and gave a reluctant nod, shooting Walter a large, reassuring grin before lumbering after the Trollhunter, disappearing from sight within mere seconds.  
Vendel huffed, before beckoning Blinky close with a large creamy hand, “Blinkous, I require assistance, I think I may have misplaced one of my books in your library. Help me find it, will you?”  
Blinky and Walter gave each other wide eyed stares, both of them aware Vendel was deliberately trying to get Walter on his own with the Dirvana.  
For whatever mysterious reason.  
Blinky gave a helpless shrug, before trailing after the elder of Trollmarket, leaving Walter with Lief and princess Nebula.  
Walter broke the silence by asking curiously, “So, can you now tell me how your powers work?”  
Lief brightened, most of the Dirvana were too scared to even speak to him, fearful of his great gift.  
And new acquaintanced troll’s were very suspicious and wary of him.  
Yet Stricklander just looked very interested and curious, Lief would give the changeling the benefit of the doubt and trust this changeling.

After all, his powers were never wrong about a troll’s aurora.  
Taking a deep breath, Lief explained, “Well, I was born with them, it runs in my family. My father’s side anyway. By touching or holding eye contact I can gauge how someone is feeling, their personality and aurora. Which is, I think, the soul. Although I see it as waves of colour. And if I am concentrating, I can see recent memories, which is usually the part the other troll feels. But you almost seemed to know what I was doing with me barely skimming the surface of your mind. It may be because you are originally human, but either way it is truly fascinating.”

Walter couldn’t agree more, this was unbelievable!   
Absently he thought what Barbara would think about all this, she would certainly find it interesting.

Nebula shooed Lief away to one side in order to come closer to Walter, piercing purple eyes locked on his yellow ones keenly.  
“I have never seen a human up close before, let alone talked to one. Since our tribe lives deep in the Indian jungles, hidden away from the troubles of mankind. I am curious, if you do not mind, if I can see your birth form.”  
Alright, that was certainly not what Walter had expected the princess to ask about.

Lief butted his head delicately against Nebula’s forehead in a soft show of affection, causing Walter’s cheeks to heat slightly in embarrassment.  
Luckily Walter’s green stone skin hid his blush perfectly.  
This was basically a kiss on the lips between troll’s and Walter felt like he was trespassing, seeing such an intimate gesture between the two Dirvana.  
“Nebula, meri jaan, that is a rather personal thing to ask of someone you barely know.” Lief said, casually wrapping his arms around the dark blue troll’s shoulders.  
Walter huffed, “I really don’t mind.”  
Not giving the two any warning he reverted back to human form in a burst of green light.  
It was only once he was human Walter thought that he had acted a bit rashly.  
Especially when he had no idea how these two would react to a human.  
He tugged on his jacket’s lapels nervously, as Nebula let out a gasp of astonishment.  
Leaving Lief’s side she approached Walter slowly, poking at his arm in bewilderment.  
“It is so… squashy. How on earth can you live like this? Humans really are delicate.”  
Walter raised an eyebrow at that, “Well we don’t have to rely on strength of body, but rather strength of mind. We aren’t called homo sapiens for no reason..”  
He couldn’t help the note of defensiveness in his voice, this was his species Nebula was talking about after all.  
Nebula’s eyes widened, Stricklander’s voice was so smooth, nothing like a troll’s gravely tone at all.

She stepped closer to him, reaching her upper hands up to his hair in disbelief.  
It was so soft, like the fluffy down of a duckling.  
“Incredible! How is it so shiny?” Nebula asked, her antlers glittering in the Hearstone’s golden light as she cocked her head to one side curiously.  
⁴ Walter was honestly not sure wherever to be amused or annoyed, but he decided against the latter.  
He didn’t want to offend the princess, and he was happy to tell her about humans.  
Walter gently untangled himself from the Dirvana, tacking a small step back and attempting to neaten his mused-up hair.  
Straightening his jacket with a few deft brushes of his hands.  
“I wash it and use a leave in conditioner.” Walter doubted they would know what that was though.  
Nebula looked at him in confusion, “You wash it? Why do you not wait for it to rain? Or wash thoroughly during the monsoon season, like we do?”  
Walter gave a small laugh of incredulousness. “It doesn’t rain here too often, and we don’t have monsoons. Plus, we have running water in our taps, which means we can get clean whenever we want."  
Nebula still didn’t look convinced, but before she could say anything, Lief came forward slightly.

His gaze was very sceptical as he regarded Walter, who was now shorter than both Dirvana.

Lief’s ear gave a small flick as he commented, “Why are you dressed in so many layers? I have never seen a troll wear whatever is on your feet before.”  
Walter glanced at his shoes and then back up at the befuddled light green troll.  
This was certainly not the conversation he had been expecting, at all.  
Frowning thoughtfully, Walter eventually explained; “Well, to answer your first question, humans are not made of stone and so are more affected by hot and cold weather. Although really it depends on what everyone prefers to wear. And these ‘things’ on my feet are called shoes. It protects the soles of our feet as they are rather…soft.”  
Well, compared to a troll anyway.  
Walter was more aware than ever about how fragile humans were, yes, they had brains, but that did not prevent their physical limitations in comparingson to troll’s, and even animals.  
The human body was weak and prone to many illnesses.  
It was a simple fact, that could not be changed.  
There was a certain solidity and safety to being a troll that Walter found rather reassuring. 

The fact he was stronger, faster and more agile than a human while a troll was something Walter felt empowered by.  
His thoughts went to his brother and father briefly, who had always been physically stronger than him and well muscled.  
Walter was pretty sure being a changeling he was now physically superior to them and most humans.  
In his troll form, anyway.  
He was not sure how much of his trollish nature could show through while human.  
Other than making his eyes glow and incredibly fast healing.  
He was broken out of his inner musing by Lief, who had snorted at his answer, “Soft? Your whole body is soft! No wonder you need so many protective layers!”

Nebula gave the ram horned Dirvana a look of exasperation, “Lief, you couldn’t talk any louder, could you?”  
Lief gave a mock hurt expression to the elegant troll princess, “Is that sarcasm I hear from the love of my life?”  
Nebula flicked her long hair with a huff, the golden gems woven in it jangling merrily, “Noo of course not.” 

Walter shook his head with a small roll of his eyes at the relaxed banter between the two troll’s, it reminded him of how he and Toby or Nomura talked with him.

It was cute in inbetween these two though, not annoying.  
Lief gave a melodramatic cry, “It is! Why-,”  
He was cut off by a loud roar followed by a shuddering crash and raised voices of anger.  
Walter exchanged a startled look with the two Dirvana, before quickly switching back to his troll form, his wings unfurling with a snap of magical energy.

The weight of his horns was slightly uncomfortable as he immediately was moving, following after the two Dirvana out of the Heartstone’s inner sanctum.  
Nebula let out a gasp of dismay, all four hands covering her mouth in horror.  
The two massive panther creatures were loose, crashing into every stall in their path with dreadful screeches of fury.

Walter turned to Nebula in horror, “What’s gotten into them?”

“I have no idea, but if we cannot stop the Panzer they may destroy the whole market place.”


	13. chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gnomes and Grave Sand, mischief and mayhem.

While Walter, Lief and Nebula had been talking, on the other side of Heartstone Trollmarket, hidden from sight in a small crevasse were a group of blue hated Gnomes, led by a red hated one.

They had decided to cause some mischief, so had gathered together and then set out towards Kanjigar’s dwelling, running under troll’s feet in their excitement to reach their destination.

Once there, they immediately spread out, searching for any magical object they could steal.

One Gnome sniffed curiously at a large pouch and gave a loud clap of glee with its little hands.

Which alerted the others, who gathered around it.

The Gnome opened the pouch, displaying a sand-like black substance with swirls of purple woven in it.

The Gnomes did a victory dance in delight, before hoisting the pouch onto their small shoulders and making their way out speedily.

Within minutes, they had reached the spot where the Panzer were tied to a sturdy outcropping of rock.

They were lying on the floor, barbed tails curled tight to their bodies and eyes squeezed shut.

The only sign that they were alive the occasional flick of an ear or whisker. 

The Gnomes had a moment of uncertainty, gazing up at the colossal creatures, but their red hated leader marshalled them with a chatter and wave of arms.

Grabbing hold of the pouch, it gave a small salute.

Before skittering up to the bigger of the two Panzer, opening the pouch, the Gnome tipped a portion of the sand-like substance into the creatures large nostrils.

The nose twitched, and the Gnome jumped down quickly, in seconds it had given the other Panzer a similar dosage.

Bunching the pouch over its pointy head in victory, the Gnome joined the small group of mischief makers headed away from the waking up stone big cats.

Completely aware of the mayhem that would follow their actions and looking forward to it.

 

 

 

Walter stood frozen as the Magnificent beasts tore through the market place.

Walter supposed the only good thing about this situation was the fact he could at least admire the Panzer’s elegant forms.

Their bodies were coal black, with patterns of blue and white marbling through it and a cluster of thorn-like horns spiralling up from their heads.

But their tails were the most bizarre thing about the Panzer, they ended in a shiny obsidian black barb, similar to a scorpion and dripping with a purple hued venom.

Nebula let out a soft cry of alarm, her ears pinned back, flat to her head.

Lief turned to her in worry, “What is it?”

“Look at their eyes!” She exclaimed.

Walter gazed out at the still raging animals, catching a glance of the smaller Panzer’s eyes.

It was a bright yellow and red, similar to his own eyes. But he could have sworn they hadn’t been that colour before…

“Have their eyes changed?” Walter asked in confusion, glancing at the two Dirvana next to him.

“Yes. But I do not know why! And I know for a fact this is not their doing.” Nebula said desperately, with a wave of her many arms in the general direction of the chaos in front of them. 

Lief sighed, “We must get down there then, perhaps we can get through to them, we do know them best after all.”

Nebula nodded, before with a clatter of cloven hooves started down towards the mad animals, Lief close behind her.

Walter hesitated, wondering if it was wise to chase obviously deranged creatures that were the size of a horse.

 

Shaking his wings, Walter began to head after them, only to be stopped by a set of sharp teeth chomping down on his foot.

Walter yelped, losing his balance, he heavily sat down on the floor, lifting his foot up he gaped at the Gnome attached to him by very sharp, pointy, teeth.

Beady black eyes peering up at him in mischievous glee, the Gnome let go of his foot and ran up his leg, making its way to his chest.

Walter sat up sharply, quickly pinning the fiend in his claws, glaring at the Gnome in anger, “Why did you do that?” Walter snarled.

Walter tightened his claws slightly, and the small bearded man gave a chatter of fear, a look of deep remorse on its face.

Walter made the mistake of loosening his tight grip and leaning in to get a closer look at the Gnome.

Who gave a hoot of laughter, before opening a small pouch and flinging its contents into his face.

Walter reared back, his wings flaring in shock as the little bastard made a run for it, cackling madly.

Walter coughed, nostrils flaring as the purple-black substance entered his system.

His eyes burned, and his throat felt constricted, but Walter had never experienced such a boost of raw power like this before.

It filled him with a quivering of suppressed energy, every nerve in his body urging Walter to fight, to fly, to do something.

He didn’t even realise his talons had come out as he thrust himself into the air with a strong downbeat of his wings, a savage feeling of predatory alertness seizing him at the sight of the Panzer below him.

Walter had a brief moment of disorientation, as everything around him seemed to be moving too slow and colours swirled in a dizzying blur of vivid blues, reds and greens.

Walter gave a snarl of anger, shaking his head, he dived at the massive black creature, crashing onto its neck with all his weight.

Walter dug his claws in viciously, causing the Panzer with a roar of pain to stumble away from the small troll whelp it had been seconds from squashing. The whelps mother dragging her child away in terror, clutching him as she ran towards safety.

But Walter hadn’t even noticed, too consumed with battle lust and his focus on the Panzer below him.

Who gave a violent twist, catapulting Walter over its head.

The changeling landed crouched on his haunches, his wings widening for balance, a sharp grin spreading on his face, this was more like it!

With a powerful roar, Walter leapt at the Panzer, clawing at its eyes and muzzle in an attempt to twist the animal away from the still close, and confused, troll’s.

He wasn’t so intoxicated that he couldn’t think, but the battle lust still dominated his mind.

The Panzer lashed with its barbed tail, narrowly missing the corner of Walter’s right wing, snarling in fury the changeling lunged, sliding under the beast’s belly and raking his claws at the thick rocky hide.

To no avail.

Walter didn’t have enough time to react, as with a yowl of anger the Panzer hooked Walter by the leg, dragging him out into the open again.

Growling at the fierce pain in his leg Walter flung himself into the air again, twisting out of the Panzer’s grip and coming down hard on top of the sleek black head of the panther-like creature, holding onto its muzzle tightly.

It struggled, but Walter grimly held on, until with a soft whimper the animal’s eyes rolled up in its head and it lost consciousness, slumping to the floor limply.

 

Walter struggled to unclench his talons from around the muzzle of the Panzer, his brain telling him to kill the animal below him.

Walter shook his head with a growl, trying desperately to break out of whatever had seized his mind.

It didn’t work.

Eyes burning, Walter launched into the air again, not even hearing the cries of surprise and relief from the troll’s surrounding the now unconscious Panzer.

He didn’t even know where to go, he was without direction, still consumed with the feral urge to fight something.

Perhaps he could find the other Panzer, unless it had already been dealt with.

Frustrated, Walter powered through the air, eyes scanning below for any sign of the other Panzer, which he finally spotted, it had been subdued already as Kanjigar was standing next to the slumped over creature.

Lief and Nebula stood beside him, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh opposite.

Walter folded his wings close to his body and arrowed down, landing with a thud, causing the small group of troll’s to look at him in varying degrees of shock.

 Blinky gaped at the changeling in slack jawed amazement, he had not expected Walter to already be flying!

Kanjigar was the first to speak, “While you were up there did you see the other Panzer? It needs to be subdued and then we need to figure out what got into them.”

Walter sneered at the Trollhunter, “And why would I tell _you_ anything.”

All the troll’s stared at the changeling in shock, this being completely out of character from him. Stricklander was sarcastic but never malicious or cruel about it.

Kanjigar growled and was surprised with the answering snarl from the much smaller troll.

Was the impure challenging him?

“You don’t seem to understand, that Panzer could be completely out of control, destroying everything-,” Kanjigar was cut off.

By Stricklander harshly stating; “Its already dealt with.”

The Trollhunter snorted, “What? By you?"

“Yes, I’m so glad that got through that thick, empty skull of yours.” Walter sneered back.

Kanjigar had enough.

It had started with the changeling being nosy and butting in about how he raised his son, then the sarcastic retorts and now this!

He summoned Daylight to his hand, the blade a comforting and familiar weight, he pointed the broadsword in the direction of the winged changeling, “Enough of your insolence impure, I don’t care what Vendel says, but you deserve a good beating.”

Stricklander seemed to inflate slightly, his wings trembling in suppressed fury, eyes burning molten gold.Stricklander bared his tusks, getting ready for the inevitable attack by the Trollhunter, and looking forward to it.

Only for Blinky to step inbetween the two tense males, arms waving desperately, “Wait! Kanjigar you cannot do this!”

Lief and Nebula shared a look and decided wisely to quickly made their way away from the escalating situation.

Although Lief paused with a frown, Stricklander’s aurora felt off, like it was under the influence of something.

The Dirvana opened his mouth, ready to intervene as well, but was yanked forward by two of Nebula’s arms, “Come on!” She hissed. Reluctantly, Lief turned away, hoping that Stricklander would be OK.

 

Kanjigar continued speaking, “I can, and I will.”

Blinky stubbornly persisted, “Look at Stricklander carefully, his eyes, his erratic and destructive behaviour. What do those signs show?”

Kanjigar suddenly understood, “By Deya’s grace! Grave Sand! It must have been the same thing influencing the Panzer. Only question is… How did this happen?”

Blinky shrugged helplessly, before turning to the changeling slowly.

Walter immediately spat at the troll, “Are you going to throw insults at me too? Maybe call me impure? You troll’s all seem the same, racist bastards the lot of you!”

Blinky jerked back, a wave of hurt and guilt flooding through him. Apparently, Walter hadn’t forgotten or forgiven him for the incident a couple of weeks ago. The scholarly troll forced himself to remain calm, Grave Sand brought the absolute worst in someone under its influence.

Walter was not currently himself. “I do not think I properly apologized for my dreadful behaviour that terrible day. But I will say it now; I am truly sorry. About everything you have been forced to endure through these wretched weeks. But know that I will do my very best to support you, just as your wonderful wife and son have been doing.”

Walter’s snarl died in his throat and he coughed heavily, shaking his head firmly.

When he looked up into Blinky’s many eyes the four-armed troll noticed in relief the changeling’s eyes had returned to normal, no longer burning molten gold.

Walter rubbed his head with a wince, as well as a painful headache, his leg had been torn pretty badly and now that the rage wasn’t present, he was finding it difficult to stand.

Luckily Aaarrrgghh was by his side in an instant, supporting the drained changeling, who leaned into the Krubera’s great mossy side with a sigh.

Kanjigar guiltily dismissed Daylight, the changeling had not been himself and the Trollhunter hadn’t even noticed.

“What-what happened to me?” Walter rasped, his eyes dilated in fear and pain as he wrapped his wings about his body with a shudder.

“Well… you were under the influence of a substance known as Grave Sand. Which is made from crushed Gumm-Gumm ashes, commonly used by changelings, actually, in order to bring out their more trollish nature and change forms with greater ease.”

Walter momentarily burrowed his face in Aaarrrgghh’s soft, mossy fur to stifle his loud snarl of frustration, before raising his head and stating, “So I took troll drugs. Great. Just great. Just what I wanted to inform Barbara of.”

Blinky frowned, “How exactly did you ingest as you so delicately put it these ‘troll drugs’.”

“A stupid little gnome threw a purplish-black substance in my face, I must have inhaled it. Oh no.” Walter gripped his horns as a thought came to mind.

Blinky and Kanjigar looked at the changeling in confusion, “What is it?” They both asked at the same time.

“Is this something like the trollish equivalent to cocaine?” Walter growled, his ear flicking in agitation.

Blinky scoffed, “Of course not.”

Walter sighed.

“Its much worse! Grave Sand can sometimes permanently change your nature, brings out your absolute worst qualities and the side effects can include; severe headaches, drastic mood changes, drowsiness and a voracious hunger. As Grave Sand takes a big drain on your energy.”

Walter blinked, before shaking his head in disgust, “Alright, that’s it. I’m out of here.” Stumbling slightly, Walter moved away from the support of Aaarrrgghh, who gave a small grumble of sympathy.

Walter took a deep breath, before launching himself into the air shakily, his leg giving a twinge of pain and his headache making all the bright colours of Trollmarket swirl around him dizzyingly.

He quickly made his way through the market place, ignoring the cries from the troll’s below him, a mix of surprise and awe in their voices at the winged changeling flying above them. Walter landed with a huff at the exit of Trollmarket, drawing out his horngazel from his satchel he made the arch through the stone, the moment the portal opened he was in the air again.

Now that his mind was fully his own, the familiar delight of flight filled Walter, the pain in his leg only diminishing his joy slightly.

The cut had already stopped bleeding anyway, thanks to rapid changeling healing and being practically next to the Heartstone. He did a roll in the air, just for the heck of it, before rising up into the clouds with a powerful downbeat of his wings.

Walter headed home.

 

 

 

Jim had the house to himself.

His mum was doing a late shift and his dad was busy in Trollmarket. Doing whatever a troll was meant to be doing in a secret underground city full of mythical stone beings.

Jim was by now in bed, although sleep was still a long time coming.

He deeply regretted staying at Toby’s house until almost eleven at night, and now he couldn’t go to sleep. Restlessly, Jim twisted and turned.

And froze.

There was a creak of a window opening, heavy footsteps and the sound of drawers being opened and closed.

Jim listened intently for ten minutes, until the sounds had stopped, before taking a deep breath he lightly hopped out of bed.

He made his way through the upstairs landing, past the bathroom, and paused at the firmly closed door to his mum and dad’s room. Gathering his courage, Jim pushed the door open slowly, peeking around the wooden frame.

The room was dark, but Jim could make out what appeared to be some sort of nest, made from several thick blankets. The sight was so absurd and surprising Jim almost laughed.

But who, or what, had gotten into the house?

The only way to enter the room was by the roof, so whoever it was must be a fairly decent climber or not human.

Tip-toeing carefully to the bed Jim hesitated, before gingerly peeling the corner of the blanket nest up to see what creature lay hidden there. A pair of yellow eyes snapped open, pining Jim with their intensity. Jim stumbled back with a strangled yelp, his arms pinwheeling crazily to prevent himself from toppling over.

The yellow eyes drooped sleepily, before disappearing again as what ever it was shut its eyes.

Jim cautiously crawled over to the nest again, curious as to who it might be, although he already had a pretty good idea who this was.

He lifted the blankets up until they were over his head. The warmth was cosy and somehow the blankets had been folded so that there were still gaps, which meant there was no trouble with breathing or the warmth becoming too stifling.

Jim slowly brought his phone out, switching the flashlight mode on, he shinned it towards the creature.

Just as he had expected. Green skinned and winged, with elegant backwards sweeping horns, the creature was of course his dad.

He really should have known.

Although, heck, this was still really weird seeing his dad like this. Jim was relieved that it wasn’t some other, less friendly mythical creature. One that might have been more inclined to eat him for example.

Also, Jim hadn’t had a proper opportunity to fully inspect his dad’s new form, and he had been itching to feel Walter’s horns. Reaching out, Jim carefully touched the edge of one ivory horn, running his finger across its slightly ridged surface in awe.

This was so…incredible.

Feeling bolder, Jim grasped one of his dad’s hands, tugging it lightly towards him, palm up. In order to touch the sharp black claws tipping Walter’s hand. He was so fascinated with his inspection Jim failed to realise Walter had opened his eyes again.

 

 

Walter had been to groggy to feel anything at his son’s alarm upon seeing his obviously glowing eyes.

The moment he had crawled into the bedroom his instincts had taken over, creating someplace the changeling could rest peacefully. Up until the supposedly asleep Jim had disturbed him of course.

To his surprise, after Jim’s initial panic the boy had immediately returned to him, even though he may have been anything and being cautious was a wiser idea.

He had been even more surprised when Jim had boldly touched his horns and claws with such gentle wonder and care. Walter gazed at his son fondly, too tired to say anything, until Jim’s sparkling blue eyes rose and met his.

“Oh! Holy shish kebabs you’re awake!” Jim yelped, eyes going wide in panic.

What was his dad going to say about him still being up at, he looked at this phone briefly, almost ten past twelve at night? Apparently nothing, as instead Walter sighed in relief at the sight of his son and took a deep breath in of Jim’s scent, which was a deep comfort to the weary changeling.

Jim gazed up at him, taking in his sharpened features and looking into his eyes searchingly, what for Walter had absolutely no idea.

Perhaps for some glimpse of the real him, rather than this stone creature he was currently.

Walter really was not comfortable in his troll skin, especially after the whole high on Grave Sand experience. Curse that little menace of a Gnome to hell and back!

“Dad, I think you need a hug.” Jim settled for saying gravely.

Causing Walter to jerk back in obvious surprise, grimacing when his horns snagged on the blanket above his head. Recovering, Walter managed to grumble out; “That would, I suppose, be very welcome.”

Needing no further encouragement, Jim wriggled fully into Walter’s makeshift den and threw his arms tightly around Walter’s chest, pressing himself firmly against the changeling the body heat emitting from the boy a comforting presence to Walter. He draped one wing over Jim, who gripped the edge of the appendage in his fingers and wrapped it closer to his body.

“Jim?” Walter hesitantly asked, as softly as possible with his gravelly troll voice.

“Yeah?” Jim answered, while sliding his phone into his pocket so the only light remaining came from Walter’s glowing cat-like eyes.

“You’re not afraid of me, are you?” Walter whispered.

Jim was caught off guard at the bizarre question and he shook his head vigorously, eyes wide in incredulousness, “Of course not! You would never hurt or frighten me, so why would I ever be?” Jim stared at him in worry, wondering why his dad would ask something like that, unless… “Did something happen to you while you were in Trollmarket?” Jim asked suspiciously.

“No,” Walter started, then sighed, “Yes.” He admitted.

“Make up your mind and tell me what happened.” Jim grumped impatiently. Walter adjusted his position, so his wings were not splayed out, having such ungainly limbs and trying to find a comfortable position to lay down in was next to impossible.

“Alright, I’ll tell you. Just don’t laugh.” Or ever start being afraid of me Walter prayed inwardly.

 

 

 

He should have known Jim would find it amusing.

Jim laughed, wheezing and almost in tears at the ridiculousness of Walter’s experience in Trollmarket.

Jim couldn’t get a hold of himself, that his dad of all people had gotten high on troll drugs was hilarious.

“So, let me get this straight, you were drugged up by an inch-tall little sharp toothed Santa Clause?” Jim giggled.

“It’s not funny! I could have seriously hurt someone, or myself. I don’t know what Barbara is going to say about this!” Walter moaned, his eyes dilating slightly in panic.

And it was, of course, at that moment the safe haven of the blankets were ripped away by a very curious and annoyed Barbara.

Who knew how long she had been there for. Her eyes practically on fire and still in her green hospital scrubs, she demanded; “Say about what?”

 

 


	14. chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter spend some time with his family and experiences a troll food craving.

Barbara raised an eyebrow at her son and husband, waiting for the changeling and boy to recover from their shock.

Barbara was keenly aware of how wide Walter’s pupils were and the vicious cut crossing through his left leg, although it was already healing.

Jim gave a nervous chuckle from under Walter’s wing, “Er, how much trouble am I in?”

“Do you actually want me to answer that kiddo?” Barbara responded.

Jim smiled, “No thanks. I’m good.” And then he burrowed under Walter’s wing, so he was completely covered.

Walter stared down at Jim’s ‘hidden’ form in amusement, “Young Atlas, we can still see you.”

“No, you can’t.” Jim said, his voice almost completely muffled.

Walter rolled his eyes, making the mistake of looking up at Barbara, who immediately noticed his discomfort.

She frowned, taking out a pocket flashlight and shining it into Walter’s eyes, which immediately narrowed to thin points as the changeling gave a soft hiss of pain.

Barbara clicked the light off, and anxiously asked, “Walter, please explain why you have a bad migraine.”

Jim interjected before Walter could respond, “He got drugged up with a cocaine equivalent drug by a midgit Gnome which is probably why he has a headache.”

Walter glared at Jim, while Barbara froze, processing what Jim had just said. “Excuse me?! I could have sworn you just said Walter was on troll drugs.”

Walter winced, “Not the exact words Jim said, but yes.”

Barbara groaned, shaking her head in despair before frowning at Walter severely, “Tell me what happened.”

 

 “I can’t believe Gnomes turn out to be such little pests!” Barbara exclaimed quietly, after Walter had explained what had happened in Trollmarket to him.

Jim was asleep and they had decided to leave him under Walter’s wing to catch up on some much-needed rest.

Speaking of rest… Walter yawned, displaying his pearly white tusks, not bothered about covering his mouth. He was so tired.

Barbara seemed to be tired too as she whispered, with a pointed look at him, “I think its about time to get to sleep ourselves, especially after all the mayhem you endured in Trollmarket.”

Walter nodded, “Seems to be an excellent idea.” Wrapping Barbara gently in his free wing, in no time at all both of them joined Jim in sleep.

 

 

 

 

Walter awoke to warmth, a warmth that seemed to suffuse every pore in his body.

He could stay here forever.

There was a heavy weight on his chest, although it was strangely soft, and Walter swore someone was calling his name.

Cracking an eye open Walter noticed immediately that while he had been asleep, he had reverted back to his human form and Jim had somehow managed to get almost on top of Walter during the night.

He couldn’t remember the last time Jim had slept in their room, he had declared at the age of nine he was too old to sleep with his parents, then had cried when he said he’d had a nightmare and needed to sleep with them ‘one last time.’

It was a good memory and Walter planned on sleeping a bit longer, since it was the weekend after all, but was shaken lightly by Barbara, who smiled at him fondly, “Walt, Jim, time to wake up.”

“Not yet.” Walter mumbled, attempting to turn around and in the process dislodging Jim, who snorted upright, almost falling off the bed.

“Five more minutes!” Jim grumbled blearily, crawling back almost on top of Walter, not even glancing at his mum he shut his eyes.

Walter gently pushed Jim off him, feeling already more alert, Jim seemed to pick up on that too as he gave a small groan, and glare at his dad, before hopping out of his parent’s bed.

“You two better be up and out in the next two seconds.” He grumbled grouchily.

Barbara got out swiftly, followed by Walter, sighing reluctantly.

Although he was awake now and wanted to do something active, Barbara seemed to feel the same way as she said, “Maybe we should go to the park, it seems to be already pretty hot out there.”

She gestured to the window that was letting in a steady stream of sunshine, and Walter turned to Jim expectantly.

The black-haired boy grinned, “Sounds good to me, if we can take Toby.”

Walter gave a groan of annoyance, “What, so he can torture me to death?”

“You should be used to him by now and Tobes goes wherever we go.” Jim retorted crossly.

Barbara shook her head, “Thank god he doesn’t.” she sighed.

“Mum!” Jim whined, glaring at her.

Walter rolled his eyes, while inwardly thinking that perhaps today could be a normal day, preferably without any incidents.

 

 

The park was of course positively teeming with eager families, dogs and joggers. Walter’s senses were bombarded, even as a human his senses were much sharper than the average person’s.

Toby and Jim had gone on ahead, the park was big and having lived here their whole lives the two boys knew it fairly well.

Walter was content walking next to Barbara, their hands entwined together and simply enjoying her company.

A Labrador ambled over, and Barbara immediately reached down to pet it, momentarily fussing over the animal as it licked her hands.

Barbara laughed watching as the dog curiously stepped towards Walter, the animal froze and then gave an odd sound, somewhere between a growl and whine, before skittering away, obviously spooked.

Walter watched the Labrador go, sharing a look of puzzlement with Barbara, who quickly stood up.

“What got that dog so scared all of a sudden?” She asked. Walter had never had any animal react to him like that before, normally they came to him quite happily.

“I think it must have sensed that I am not fully human.” Walter stated.

Barbara gazed at him in surprise, “Really?” She asked, the scepticism clear in her voice.

“Yes. I think I’m more troll than human now, regardless what form I take. It makes sense animals can tell that, their senses being much more powerful than a human.”

Barbara couldn’t help but feel saddened by this, although it did make sense.

“It could have been a one off.” She said hopefully.

 

Ten minutes later and Barbara knew this was no one off, any dog that passed them stayed away from Walter, who seemed slightly upset at this.

“I don’t know how I will be able to get anywhere near mother and father’s animals if even dogs are afraid of me.” He muttered bitterly.

Barbara rested her hand hesitantly on his arm, “Let’s think about that when the time comes.”

Walter frowned, not at all convinced anything would go the way he wanted it to go when he visited his family.

 

Half an hour of calm walking passed before Walter felt one of the other side effects of the Grave Sand Blinky had listed.

A stab of sudden hunger that made the changeling almost gasp.

Barbara dragged him towards the thicket of trees bordering the side of the park, causing Walter to ask in confusion, “What is it?”

“Your eyes! They’re glowing!” Barbara exclaimed.

Walter tried to force his eyes to return to normal, but they refused, which meant they were currently slitted, yellow and most definitely not human.

Another spasm of hunger went through his body and against his will he found to his utter dismay he had changed into his troll form.

Instinctively, before anyone could potentially see him, Walter quickly climbed into the safety of a tree, the dense canopy of leaves hiding his form sufficiently.

At that moment a jogger went past, curiously eyeing Barbara who was staring at the tree Walter occupied in bafflement. Once the jogger had gone past, she immediately walked up to the tree, gazing up into Walter’s glowing eyes.

“Walt, what happened?” her husband shrugged helplessly, causing the branches and leaves surrounding him to rustle slightly, “I have no idea.”

He shut his eyes momentarily, trying to retake human form, but similarly to when he had first been changed nothing happened.

Opening his eyes with a low despairing growl, Walter ducked his head down, briefly brushing his forehead against Barbara’s, who let out a small gasp at the sudden and affectionate trollish gesture.

“I’ll have to stay in the woodlands until I get my control back.” He said softly before withdrawing away from her, back into the shelter of the tree as another fiercer spasm of hunger throbbed through his stomach.

He prepared to dive in deeper the patch of woodland but was stopped by Barbara’s warm fingers on his leg, he stopped, expectantly turning to face her.

“Call or text me to let me know what’s going on with you otherwise I’ll find Jim and Toby and get them to look for you, alright?”

Walter nodded, his horns causing the leaves near his head to rustle, “Of course.” He agreed, before with a quick leap the changeling disappeared into the woods.

Leaving Barbara to fret and worry about him and feel utterly saddened how different Walter was now and angry that this had happened to him of all people.

 

Walter was not feeling anything right now, too focused on getting away from the humans who might possibly see him.

He made his way through the trees, making sure he could still hear the sounds and smells of the humans in the park, in case his family decided to search for him and so he could keep track of where he was.

He only stopped when he smelt the distinctive odour of a squirrel, how he knew that Walter had absolutely no idea.

Sniffing, Walter crept forward carefully, pushing aside his human emotions, he had to be fully troll if he wanted to catch his prey and the human part of him was horrified and disgusted about what he was going to do.

He couldn’t afford that, he was too hungry to be able to ignore his trollish instincts, even though Walter desperately wished he wouldn’t be doing this.

He flexed his hands slowly, allowing his talons to slide out, and searched the tree, eventually spotting the squirrel perched on the branch below him.

Tensing slightly, Walter carefully watched the animal edge more towards where he would be easily able to jump down and catch it, until he judged himself capable of making a decent landing below and hopefully catching the squirrel.

Flexing the muscles in his legs Walter dropped down, his claws catching the squirrel around its neck. The animal squirmed desperately, trying to free itself and Walter instinctively clamped his jaws around its neck, snapping it with a crunch of bone.

The metallic tang of blood filled Walter’s mouth and he immediately bit into the warm and slightly steaming flesh of the animal, giving a low growl the changeling quickly devoured the squirrel, bones and all.

His tusks were more than adequate enough to tear through the muscles and ligaments of the animal and his jaw muscles being very strong made eating the bones just as easy as the meat.

Eventually there was nothing left, except the tail which Walter discarded, absently watching it flutter down to the grass below his tree.

The changeling began licking himself clean, clearing away the blood still clinging to his stone skin with relish, until the human part of him decided to get riled up at his senseless actions and panic about how he had eaten a squirrel and most certainly enjoyed it.

Walter forced these human feelings down irritably, he would not refuse his natural instincts, he had already tried fighting against them in the past and it had only caused him more grief than anything else.

If he was hungry while in troll form, he would eat like a troll, similarly if he was human, he would eat normal food. Although he wondered what Barbara would think, that he was hunting for food like an animal.

The rest of his thoughts trailed off as the changeling suddenly felt very sleepy, curling into a ball, Walter’s eyes fluttered shut and he drifted into a light doze.

 

 

“Hey! Strickler! Wake up!” A voice shouted, and then a stone, or pinecone, Walter really wasn’t too sure, knocked him on the horn.

Hard.

Walter jumped awake, claws scrambling for a secure hold on the branch below him as he rubbed the side of his horn with a wince, glowering down at the chubby form of Toby and the thin one of Jim.

“Was that necessary?” Walter snarled angerly at the ginger haired boy.

Who merely raised an eyebrow at him and retorted, with a pointed look at the remains of the squirrel, “Was _that_ necessary?”

Jim gave his best friend an appalled look, “Tobes! Anything could have eaten that animal, why on earth would you blame my dad for?!”

Toby crossed his arms, staring into Walter’s eyes narrowly until the winged troll looked away, Toby found that very reassuring, that must mean he was right.

“Jim, only someone fussy, or originally human, is going to eat everything else and just leave the tail, animals don’t do that, they don’t waste anything.” Toby explained, as Walter hopped lower down the tree so he could more easily talk to the two boys, digging his claws into the mossy bark below him tightly.

 His wings fanning out for balance and support the green changeling scoffed at Toby in disgust, “Why would I eat something that is literally only bone and fur and probably give me indigestion?”

Jim’s jaw dropped in disbelief, “So you _did_ eat the squirrel?”

“Yes.” Walter said, slightly defensively.

“OK that is seriously weird, and I don’t even want to ask why you ate it, only how did it taste?” Jim asked curiously, stepping closer to the tree Walter occupied.

Walter rolled his eyes, trust Jim to ask that and not be disgusted or horrified about his trollish eating habits and just accept it.

 

The three of them headed back to human civilisation slowly, Jim and Toby with a lot of noise and unnecessary stomping, Walter with careful steps and almost no noise, seeming to glide over the leaf and mulch splattered ground, his wings pressed to his sides, so they didn’t catch in the reaching branches of the trees overhead.

Jim turned to him, shaking his head in disbelief. Walter blinked at his son, “What?” He asked, ducking his head as he walked to avoid a particularly low hanging branch that might have entangled his horns.

“Just, you know, everything in general, especially how you’re made of stone yet manage to be almost completely silent.” Jim stated.

Toby turned to Walter and Jim with a dramatic sigh, “Jimbo, we’re not built to be predators, so why would be so freaking stealthy and awesomesaucey!”

Walter raised a brow in disbelief, “Did you just call me awesome? What have you done to the _real_ Tobias?”

“I locked him up in my shed and I’m a doppelganger who took his place.” Toby deadpanned.

Jim rolled his eyes with a small groan, before taking the lead from their small group, “No more talking, mum’s probably tearing her hair out with worry as to why we’re not back yet!”

Walter and Toby snorted, giving each other vaguely disgusted looks at how they had at the exact same time the same reaction.

Walter gave the chubby ginger a light shove of a wing, causing him to stumble forward with a glower at the changeling, “Hurry up, will you?” Walter said.

“Well, if you’re so impatient why’re you still walking with us?” Toby retorted.

 “That’s actually a good idea.” Walter mused, ignoring both boys he spread his wings and hopped into the tree in front of Jim and Toby, much to their annoyance.

“Dad!” Jim shouted, “What are you doing?”

Ignoring Jim, Walter said, “I’ll wait for you at the edge of the woodland.” Not waiting for a reply Walter turned and bounded through the tree tops, a wave of confusion washing over him.

He actually wanted to remain here, in his troll form, for longer. It was a startling thought that he could enjoy being a troll. He shouldn’t feel like this, right?

He was so busy thinking he almost burst out of the tree cover, but at the last instant Walter dug his claws into the bark below him to stop his momentum.

He pressed himself against the tree and edged around it till he faced the forest again, taking care to wrap his wings around his body so that he blended in with the shadows surrounding him.

He really did not know what to think, Walter knew only that he was confused and tired yet felt utterly at peace as he was, his senses alive and the sun warming his stone skin.

He spent the next five minutes calmly waiting for Jim and Toby, eyes half lidded in relaxation idly watching a bee flit from flower to flower in the trees blooming blossoms.

Eventually the sound of panting and stumbling reached his ears and Walter watched in amusement as Jim and Toby stumbled out of the thicket.

His son scanned the clearing in confusion and Walter cleared his throat to get Jim and Toby’s attention.

Jim looked up and spotted him, glowering fiercely, panted out, “Why. Are. You. So fast?”

Walter smirked, “Why are you two so slow?”

Toby shook his head while Jim pointed an accusing finger at the changeling in annoyance, “Shut up dad, let’s just go and find Mum. Without the crazy troll.” Jim added with another glare at Walter’s stone clad body.

Rolling his eyes, and pretending to ignore Jim’s rudeness, the changeling good naturedly clambered out of his tree and onto solid ground, adjusting the strap of his satchel, which had gotten tangled slightly in his movement through the trees.

Giving his wings a firm shake, Walter reverted back to human form in a now familiar burst of changeling light.

Adjusting his jacket Walter walked out of the woods, calling over his shoulder, “Come on then, Young Atlas.”

He heard Toby snigger and felt Jim glaring at him, and he half turned, catching Jim’s eye, his son stuck his tongue out at him, and Walter rolled his eyes.

 

 It didn’t take long to find Barbara with Walter’s heightened sense of smell and the moment she spotted them she practically ran over, throwing her arms around Walter and burrowing her face in his neck.

Walter gave a surprised laugh and kissed her on the lips, ignoring Toby’s gag of disgust, before saying, “I was not gone for that long love.”

Barbara gazed up at him severely, “Just please try not to do that again, if you can. The last thing I need is for the three of you to go missing.”

Jim, Toby and Walter had the decency to look guilty and Barbara sighed, “Never mind, let’s just get home.”

Walter nodded, “Sounds good to me.”

Jim and Toby exchanged looks, “Last one there’s a rotten egg!” Toby yelled, breaking into a run.

Jim shouted in surprise, “No fair!” Before running after his best friend.

Laughing Barbara rested her head on Walter’s shoulder, hugging her close they followed after the two boys, towards home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always comments are much appreciated and motivate me to finish this off. :)


	15. chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter gets interrogated by Nebula and dragged into a celebration he wants no part of.

Walter managed to persuade Barbara that by going earlier to Trollmarket he would be able to get back quicker, although really, he didn’t want to discuss what had happened while in the forest.

 He couldn’t help but feel ashamed about his trollish instincts overpowering his rationality and wanted to clear his mind.

Trollmarket was the best place to forget, at least for a little while, what he was and wasn’t.

Although Walter had never gone to Trollmarket so early and was incredibly aware that anyone could see him, and almost faceplanting into the ground after sliding down to the canal bed did not make him any less nervous.

Adjusting the lapels of his jacket, Walter briskly made his way under the bridge, to the familiar wall that hid Trollmarket magically from sight.

It was shadowed here, praying no passer-by might somehow spot him, Walter changed forms, managing to dim the usually bright changeling light, much to his surprise.

Flexing his claws and shaking out his wings, Walter reached into his satchel, withdrawing his horngazel he quickly drew the arch in the stone, pressing his hand to the centre of the glowing marking.

The portal opened and the changeling quickly stepped through, sighing in relief as the entrance closed behind him.

And almost jumped out of his skin, literally, at the sight of Blinky slumped on the floor next to the crystal staircase.

“What on earth...? Blinky!” Walter hissed.

The troll let out a soft snore in response.

Walter crouched in front of the four-armed troll’s large ear and growled, “BLINKOUS!”

Blinky jerked awake, his many eyes snapping open in alarm at the sight of a pair of yellow glowing eyes of a familiar changeling.

“Oh, Walter, why are you here so early?” Blinky asked curiously.

Walter shook his head, “What are _you doing up here?”_

Blinky grasped the winged troll by his shoulders, “You mustn’t go down there! The Dirvana have started _it_ again. I daren’t go down, those horrible troll’s even got to Aaarrrgghh!”

Feeling completely dumbfounded Walter tilted his head at the scholar, had Blinky finally cracked and gone mad?

“ _What_ is going on down there?” Walter growled.

“You will have to see for yourself, I am not going down there!” the four-armed troll said folding his arms and petulantly pouting at Walter like a little child.

Honestly, sometimes Blinky could be really immature, sighing Walter stood up, “Fine, I will go down to the market myself.”

 Blinky watched him go with a sulky look, sighing again Walter hesitated at the top of the staircase, just because he _could_ fly did not immediately make him fearless of heights.

Especially since falling from this height as a human would leave him dead, but that was an unreasonable worry now.

Walter plunged down with his wings firmly pressed to his sides, the blue of the staircase a vivid blur of colour a wave of exhilaration going through him.

 As he reached the bottom of the staircase, he remembered he should have been slowing down and almost knocked himself out with his ungraceful landing.

Groaning Walter rubbed his head, his wings getting in his way and attempting to entangle him as he stood up and walked into Trollmarket.

His mouth dropped open in amazement at the sight that met his eyes, Dirvana and resident troll’s alike covered the streets. Not with the usual trading posts though.

The market had been closed so the large gathering of troll’s could sit on the floor and get painted.

Walter walked into Trollmarket cautiously, noticing a small troll whelp dip her tail into a bucket of deep blue paint and make a long wavy pattern across another whelp, both of them giggling.

And then he spotted Nebula, who was sitting on a plush cushion and getting small starbursts painted on her arms and chest by an elderly grey Dirvana. The princess also had gaudy pink swirls across her cheeks, shoulders and legs, some sort of purple glittery powder shining in her hair.

The princess saw him and called out to him with a beckoning wave, Walter reluctantly slunk over, hesitantly eyeing a richly embroidered cushion before settling on it comfortably, crossing his legs under him in a similar fashion to the elegant dark blue troll.

Nebula regarded him for a second, before saying something rapidly to the elderly Dirvana in a language Walter was completely unfamiliar with, he wouldn’t even try and guess what language that was.

The grey troll nodded with a bow before gathering his painting equipment and shuffling off so it was just the two of them.

Nebula spoke first; “Stricklander, where exactly did you go after the panzer disaster?”

Walter froze, unsure how much he could tell her, looking into her wide and trusting eyes he decided he would just tell the truth.

“I went home.” He answered simply.

Nebula frowned at him, “I am guessing you originally being human you have spent your whole life living among them. It must have been hard going through this alone without being able to tell anyone.”

Walter felt a stab of annoyance at the blue troll’s assumption he lived alone, it seemed most people he met thought he would be a loner, for some bizarre reason.

“I have a family you know, and I told them all about troll’s.” Walter said thoughtlessly, narrowing his eyes at the princess, who seemed to have realised she had offended him slightly.

Nebula’s eyes widened, “Oh. That is good, but how many humans know?”

“Only three, my wife, son and his best friend.” Walter huffed out.

“I am curious, but how are you dealing with being turned into a complete different species?” Nebula asked abruptly.

Walter’s wings automatically bristled at the question, which had taken him completely by surprise. “Well, it has been very hard having to adapt to being no longer human.” Walter replied guardedly.

He did not like how Nebula seemed to be interrogating him, it was making him feel incredibly uneasy.

“But you will never fully be one of us.” Nebula reminded the changeling, causing Walter to snarl softly, unsure if the troll was insulting him or merely stating a fact.

Nebula noticed his tension and discomfort and lowered her ears in apology, resting one hand on Walter’s arm before saying; “I am sorry, I mean no offense, to be honest being neither should be a gift, you are experiencing the best, and worst, of two worlds freely. And you seem completely open to our kind, who can be less than willing to accept any who are different.”

The words were open and kind and Walter immediately relaxed, “I’m sorry about that reaction, it wasn’t very civil of me assuming you would be insulting me. Dealing with all these strange feelings and emotions… its hard.” Walter admitted, unsure if Nebula would understand.

She gave him a sharp toothed grin, standing up and offering two hands to the changeling, who gladly took them.

And then Nebula said something that took him completely by surprise, “I think you should get painted.”

The expression of absolute mortification on Walter’s face caused the princess to laugh loudly, the beads in her hair jangling merrily.

“Absolutely not!” Walter protested.

“Why not?” Nebula retorted, gesturing at all the happy troll’s around them getting painted.

“It’s-it’s not something humans really do normally, and it looks very messy and gaudy, now I know why Blinky didn’t want to come down here!”

 Nebula laughed again at his haughty words and look of distain, “This might help you get more relaxed and happier.”

“How?” Walter asked incredulously.

“It is enjoyable believe it or not and it should take your mind off all that unnecessary frustration you seem to carry around you.”

Walter shook his head in annoyance, “You’re going to get me painted whether I like it or not.”

Nebula answered with a grin and tugged him forward, “Come, I know a painter who will be delighted to paint you.”

Reluctantly the changeling was dragged through the gathering of troll’s, tucking his wings close to his body to prevent them getting splattered with paint from the happy, giggling troll’s around him.

Walter was so focused on his steps, not getting covered in paint or tripping over anyone, that he nearly had a heart attack when a large, heavy hand rested on his shoulders.

The changeling gave an undignified yelp, turning to whoever had touched him.

Aaarrrgghh grinned down at him, his mossy fur a riot of bright colours, blue, purple, yellow and red being the most dominant tones. Dirvana still were painting the Krubera, climbing onto his back to reach all his fur.

“Stricklander get painted too?” Aaarrrgghh inquired.

“Yes, it appears so, thanks to Nebula.” He shot the elegant dark blue troll a look of mild disgust, which she pointedly ignored.

Walter huffed, hating how easily he had given in to the whim of the princess.

Aaarrrgghh snorted, blowing air into the changelings face gently, “You will enjoy it.” The Krubera stated firmly.

Walter crossed his arms, “Getting covered in gaudy paint is _not_ my idea of enjoyment.”

Before he could complain further, he got dragged away by a wing joint by Nebula, who weaved through the crowd of troll’s, eventually stopping by a pretty Dirvana, purple with short spiky pink hair and absolutely covered in patterns of beautiful flowers.

“Shirva, what do you say to painting a pair of wings?” Nebula asked.

Shirva stopped what she was doing, finishing painting dark green swirls on Lief and turned to the changeling in surprise.

“Oh, wow! They’re so beautiful!” Shirva gasped.

Walter felt his cheeks heat slightly and said politely; “Thank you.”

Lief grinned at Walter, before standing up and sitting with Nebula, leaving the place he had sat vacant, Lief gestured to the cushion and Walter sat down with a small sigh.

Shirva took out a thick, bristly brush from a pouch around her skirt and hesitated, “What colour do you want your body markings to be, er what is your name?”

“W-Stricklander.” Walter hastily corrected himself before he blurted out his human name, luckily the Dirvana didn’t hear his slight blunder.

“OK then Stricklander, what colours should I use?” The lilac Dirvana gazed at him expectantly and Walter sighed, trailing his eyes over the selection of bright colours.

He spotted a warm yellow, similar to his eye colour, and a dark green. He pointed these colours out, “Can you follow my markings in the dark green and add a little of that yellow?” Walter asked.

Shirva nodded, dipping her paint brush into the paint and delicately following the etchings on his arm in the green, Walter shivered, the paint was cool and the repetitive strokes of the brush oddly relaxing, it didn’t take long to be completely painted, less than twenty minutes, although his wings were untouched.

Walter couldn’t help but admit to himself he did feel better and certainly more relaxed.

And he did like how the paint felt on his skin.

“How should I do your wings” Shirva mused thoughtfully, running one paint splattered claw through her hair, “How about I paint the insides like a night sky, with the moonbright powder for stars?” Shirva finally asked hesitantly, unsure if the grumpy winged troll would be alright with that.

Walter’s eyes shined brighter, “That is an excellent idea!”

 

It was just as his wings were finished being painted that disaster struck, in the form of a very clumsy troll.

He had been carrying a bucket of bright purple paint but had the misfortune to trip.

And send the paint flying into Draal the Deadly’s face.

The bucket clanged as it hit the floor and Draal stared at the troll, purple paint dripping from his face.

Giving an angry snort, Draal grabbed a nearby bucket of yellow paint and chucked it at the retreating troll, who expertly ducked.

Walter watched in glee as the paint arched through the air and smashed into Kanjigar.

The Trollhunter froze, he had been taking in all the happy troll’s content to just watch them have fun, until his son had splattered him with paint that is.

Turning slowly, he narrowed his eyes at the sight of Stricklander, who was quietly laughing at him, his wings painted like a night sky. He was the only one amused, everyone else was petrified in alarm.

Unamused, Kanjigar groped for a bucket of red paint, almost missing it as the yellow paint dripping on his face obscured his vision momentarily. Draal pressed the bucket into his father’s hands helpfully.

“Thank you, Draal.” Kanjigar said with a small grin gazing towards Stricklander.

His son grinned back, “I cannot wait to see that smug look wiped off that changeling once covered in paint!”

“Likewise.” Kanjigar agreed.

 

Walter had a feeling that Kanjigar would want to take out his frustration on him by chucking paint at him, and quickly stood up positioned himself so that when he ducked the paint would go into Aaarrrgghh, Nebula hissed at him to sit down but he ignored her.

He knew if the Krubera was hit he would probably start a paint fight, and he really wanted this to work, just so he could escape home in the chaos.

 

Kanjigar smirked, the changeling had made himself the perfect target standing up with his wings spread, almost in challenge.

Swinging his arm, he let the bucket fly and snarled when Stricklander dodged the paint, giving a mocking bow to the Trollhunter as the paint slammed into Aaarrrgghh.

Who let out a delighted bellow, causing Kanjigar to flinch and glare daggers at the smirking changeling. Kanjigar knew what was going to happen and braced himself as Aaarrrgghh yelled, “PAINT FIGHT!”

After that things escalated quickly as the whole market burst into all out war, with paint flying absolutely everywhere in a whirl wind of colourful mayhem.

It was in the mist of this madness Blinky stumbled into, finally curious about what was going on in Trollmarket without him.

Just in time to get splattered in the chest with a splodge of bright red paint.

“Great grumbly gruesome!” The scholar spluttered, before giving a cry of anger that made some of the nearby troll’s pause in the action of throwing paint.

“That is enough! I have about had it with the lot of you!” Stomping forward, Blinky grabbed a bucket off a flabbergasted troll and sent it full force flying into the air.

Walter could only watch in horror as the bright pink paint elegantly moved in the air and crashed into Vendel’s face, who had just decided to see why there was so much noise outside his sanctum and just stepped out.

The elder was silent for a long moment, the bucket upside down on his head with pink strands of paint dripping into his fur, his eyes narrowed on Blinky, who was standing in mortification surrounded by empty space, a troll pointed at him, “He did it!”

Vendel’s eyes narrowed even more, until they were thin slits of furious anger, “BLINKOUS GALADRIGAL!!” Vendel bellowed.

Walter decided now would be a good time to make his escape, turning to0 Nebula and Lief he said, “I’m going to get out of here.”

Shirva shook her head, “But it’s just getting good!”

Walter snorted, “I don’t want to get blamed for starting all this mess by our noble Trollhunter.”

Lief chuckled, “Seems to be a reasonable idea, goodnight then, safe travels home Stricklander.”

Nebula laughed, eyes glittering merrily, “If you want to go, go now!” She gestured at the elder of Trollmarket was still shouting furiously at Blinky. Who chuckled nervously at how ridiculous Vendel looked.

Which only fuelled his anger more, Walter flinched at the explosive trollish swear words ejected out of Vendel’s mouth.

Alright, time to go.

Standing up and saying a hurried goodbye to the three Dirvana, the changeling weaved through the mesmerized crowd of troll’s, until Vendel’s yelling was faint and there were no troll’s in sight.

Taking in a deep breath, Walter launched himself into the air, each downbeat weighed down by the thick paint covering his wings.

Although he was slowly getting better at flying, in no time at all, Walter was out of Trollmarket and winging his way over Arcadia, the city glowing below him, completely unaware of his presence above.

He took his time gliding above his small town, content to stay up here alone in the sky if only to keep his mind of reality for just a little bit longer and enjoy this incredible gift given to him.

 

 


	16. chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter gets a gift from Nebula and Lief and tells the troll's about his impending visit to England.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be finally Walter visiting his family and the x of his new changeling blood.

 

Barbara should really be used to the craziness her life now contained, yet it still surprised her when at quarter to six in the evening her husband came into the house, in troll form, covered in paint.

It was clearly not an accident, but quite deliberate, as his markings had been very carefully traced in a rich peridot green, his cheekbones dramatically highlighted in it, giving him a slightly wilder look.

This was emphasised further with the subtle swirls of yellow around his neck, chest and arms.

But it was his wings that made her, as well as Toby and Jim, gape in wonder. They had been painted a dark blue on the inside with a silvery powder sprinkled across them, so it looked like the sky had decided to splatter all over his wings.

“What do you think?” Walter asked self-consciously with a small, slightly nervous, toothy smile.

Barbara didn’t say anything, but inside she was thinking, _Wow, he’s even more beautiful with that paint all over him, like something out of a fairy-tale…_

Toby was the first to recover enough to actually say something, “So, do you think that’ll transfer to your human form?”

Walter froze, “Shoot.” He settled for saying as Toby and Jim giggled at the thought of the changeling in his human form covered in paint.

 

 

It turned out, thankfully, the paint didn’t transfer to his human form, although both boys were massively disappointed it hadn’t.

Walter spent the rest of the evening human, even when Blinky and Aaarrrgghh arrived at their house. Which they had made a habit of for some strange reason.

The Krubera stared at him funnily, clearly unused to Walter’s true form as he sniffed him deeply and stated, “Still smell same.” As if reassuring himself Walter was indeed the same person in both forms.

Blinky vastly exaggerated the events that took place in Trollmarket and Walter was quick to point out the obvious lies to the four-armed troll, much to Blinky’s annoyance and Walter’s enjoyment.

 

 

Once Jim had gone to bed and Toby and the two troll’s returned to their respective homes, Barbara asked Walter something that took him completely by surprise, once they were snuggled up in bed.

“Change, will you?” Barbara whispered, the night was hot, and Walter was already half asleep and the question confused him.

“What do you mean?” he asked softly.

Barbara grimaced at him and gently tapped his chest, “Change forms.”

Walter looked at her in disbelief, but did as she asked, shifting from human to troll in a burst of changeling light, his wings curling around Barbara protectively.

She reached up and ran her hands through the thick hair in between his horns and then cheekily tickled him under the chin, coaxing a small cat-like purr from the changeling.

Which caused him to jerk away from her, giving a mock growl of annoyance, “You are the absolute worst.” He declared, “Why on earth did you want me to change forms for?”

“I want to do an experiment and I can’t do it while you’re human.” Barbara said with a smirk, enjoying the dawning look of realisation on Walter’s face.

“Doctor’s orders.” He agreed, his voice a velvety purr he ran his claws down her body, electing a shiver from her.

Barbara pressed her forehead to his, gently tracing the small engravings on his chin.

Before giving him a deep kiss on the lips, which Walter eagerly responded to, mindful of his tusks getting caught on her skin. Barbara pushed against him, and he toppled over with a breathless laugh.

From there things only got more intense and the night seemed to last forever, theirs to explore, discover and love the uniqueness of the moment. And finally, Walter felt completely content being a changeling.

 

They lay entwined, stone against skin, half asleep and breathless from their night activity and yet still stubbornly clinging to consciousness.

Walter was idly fiddling with her hair, curling it around his claw slowly about ready to go to sleep, especially after that wonderous experience, he had feared in this form they wouldn’t have been compatible but that was definitely no longer a worry.

And then Barbara let out a burst of laughter, causing the changeling to stare at her in obvious bafflement, completely nonplussed at her sudden outburst. “What?” he asked.

“Nothing really, just thinking about the last couple of months or so and how _this_ ,” here she gestured at his horns absently, “Has so quickly began to feel almost normal.”

Walter snorted, “There is absolutely _nothing_ normal about this.” There was no bitterness in his voice, but Barbara could detect a note of worry in his tone.

Leaning in closer to him, Barbara said softly, “You’re nervous about seeing your parents, aren’t you?”

There was no point denying it, so Walter nodded, the movement highlighting the specks of glitter in the paint on his face. Barbara fondly tapped the changeling on the nose, smiling at his look of utter bemusement.

“You don’t have to tell them.” She reasoned.

“I have to at least tell Mother and Marigold, somehow.” Walter responded, nervously twitching his wings, which only served to remind him further just how different he was outwardly in his troll form.

“What ever you think is best, Walt. This is your family after all.” Barbara said, stroking one of Walter’s arching horns lightly, still in awe of how magnificent certain aspects of his troll form were.

“Thank you dear, without your words of wisdom I doubt I would survive.” Walter stated with a small smirk.

Barbara snorted, “I’m sure you’d do fine,” she paused, “for the first day at least.”

Walter gave a sharp growl, “I think you mean the first hour, as I just couldn’t _bear_ to be without you for _any_ longer.” He pressed himself against her, his claws raking down her bare legs, causing Barbara to let out a sound somewhere between a giggle and a gasp.

“Alright, no need to get so mushy.” She managed to say before Walter wrapped his wings around her, the paint on them making it appear Barbara was cocooned within a world all to herself.

She sighed, resting her head against Walter’s chest closing her eyes and allowing the slow pulse of his heartbeat lull her to sleep.

 

 

 

 

The next couple of weeks went by rather quickly, Walter’s training under Kanjigar continued, with Lief and Nebula sometimes watching sometimes joining in.

It was beginning to become a routine, go to work, come to Trollmarket once it was night and then train with Kanjigar. He was beginning to feel fitter as well and was starting to impress the Trollhunter with his ability to pick up fighting tactics with little practise and a lot of accuracy.

Currently, it was evening, and Walter had been introduced to a troll beverage known as ‘Glug’ and after the initial spluttering at the sharp, burning tang of it, to much laughter of the troll’s around him, had already ingested a whole tankard full.

Walter could feel a pleasant warmth in his stomach and head, it almost reminded him of having a good glass of wine, which he hadn’t had in a while.

And then a thought hit him, “Blinky, is this the equivalent to alcohol by any chance?” he asked.

“Er, yes, it is. Although you have not ingested enough to get drunk if that is what you are worried about.” Blinky added at the changeling’s expression of annoyance.

Walter looked at Aaarrrgghh incredulously, with a “Is he serious” face. The Krubera shrugged, downing his own tankard of Glug, the still bright paint covering his usually green fur sparkling in the low light of the cave.

Walter’s own painted body was still as bright as it had been when fresh, the only thing to have faded was the powder on his wings which was a relief.

He had of course asked how long the paint would last and had been dismayed to find out it would stay on for at least a couple of months.

So the changeling was resigned to being envious of Blinky’s paint free skin.

 

 It was then that Nebula and Lief entered the pub, stopping Walter from starting a possible argument with Blinky. The two Dirvana warily scanned the cave until they spotted the three troll’s tucked in the corner and immediately made their way towards them.

 Nebula elegantly sat next to Walter, Lief by her side, who touched all the troll’s minds lightly to gauge their moods, and commented, “You are aware Glug will loosen you up and make your behaviour slightly unstable, right?”

Walter twitched his ear, “I would have been aware of it earlier if _someone_ had told me what I was drinking. But I think the only thing I’ll get is a headache tomorrow, because that stuff was _strong_.”

At the word ‘tomorrow’ both Dirvana exchanged a look.

“What?” Walter asked, looking at Aaarrrgghh and Blinky who seemed to know what the two Indian troll’s were going to say.

“We are going back home tomorrow, we wanted to find you to say goodbye.” Nebula explained.

Walter blinked, he was surprised that they were leaving, he had enjoyed their company and found he would miss them.

“It’s been wonderful having you here princess Nebula and you, Lief. I sincerely hope you will grace us with your presence in the future.” Blinky said with a warm, toothy grin.

Aaarrrgghh beamed at the Dirvana, “Safe travel friends.” The Krubera rumbled in farewell.

“Likewise.” Walter agreed with a small smile, he struggled with goodbyes and tried to keep them short, it was one of the few things he disliked about meeting people who couldn’t stay, you always had to say goodbye at some point.

Walter was not prepared for the hug Nebula gave him, immediately joined by Lief and Blinky, Aaarrrgghh enveloping them all in his massive arms in delight.

Walter had never felt so uncomfortable yet content in his life, normally he hated physical contact from anyone other than his family, even then not all the time. Sighing the changeling relaxed and returned the hug by wrapping his wings around the three smaller troll’s.

 It was then he noticed the short sword that Lief carried, which was odd, the Dirvana didn’t use a sword he favoured a crossbow.

Lief seemed to sense his interest, as the group hug disengaged, he gently unhooked the sword from his side and offered the blade to Walter, “This is for you, as a parting gift. Since you cannot keep using that rusted excuse of a sword Kanjigar insists you use to train with.” Lief explained.

Walter stared at the weapon in disbelief, “Thank you.” He said, gratitude shining in his eyes.

Nebula huffed, “It is the least we can do, after you dealt with that panzer and showing us your human form.”

Walter shook his head wordlessly, overcome, before taking the sword out of Lief’s hands and hesitantly turning the weapon in his claws.

The sheath was dyed dark green, the same shade as his stone skin, with runes carved delicately along its side, the visible hilt covered in small, overlapping light green scales.

Walter traced a talon over them, enjoying the smooth texture, before grasping the hilt and with a deft movement drew the blade out.

It was incredible, a soft, glowing white with looping silver runes carved in the side of it. It was like nothing Walter had ever seen in his life.

Blinky gasped, “By Deya’s grace! A sword made of panzer bone!”

“What is so special about it being made of panzer bone?” Walter asked, carefully laying the sword down on the table.

Lief eagerly responded, “It is one of the strongest, durable and sharpest material used for weaponry. It can only be harvested 100 years after a panzer has died making it incredibly valuable.”

Walter stared down at the white blade in amazement, “I will make sure I look after it.” He promised, “Where can I put it?” he muttered, sheathing the blade in its scabbard with a scrape.

Blinky spoke up at his question and suggested, “Inbetween your wings may be a good place to carry it and easy to reach as you won’t have to unbuckle it, just draw it out.”

Walter nodded, “Alright, can you help me get it on my back Lief?”

Lief sighed but helped the changeling settle the blade across his back in a similar fashion to Daylight, the weight was oddly reassuring and comfortable, and it helped being surrounded by friends eased any tension Walter had.

 

 

The next hour passed relatively quick and Walter finally told Blinky of his impending visit to England, which was only a few days away now.

“Oh dear, you plan to tell your human family about us.” Blinky gravely stated.

Walter looked away with a sharp exhale of breath, before saying, “Only my mother and sister, and perhaps my father. My sister Marigold’s husband is away on a job and my brother refused to come, not that I wanted to see his sorry excuse of a face.”

That last part only Aaarrrgghh heard, as Blinky had been dragged into a discussion about humans after Walter’s statement.

Aaarrrgghh hesitated, then asked, “Not close to family, why?”

Surprised, Walter eyed Blinky, Nebula and Lief before admitting quietly, “They have always been very dominating, my father and brother, they were disappointed, I think, that I was not like them. I wasn’t strong I preferred to read and learn history than learn how to run a farm. I am stronger now, than any human, yet I still want to please them.”

Walter looked up at the Krubera, hoping the gentle giant would understand, Aaarrrgghh hummed thoughtfully, “Normal to want approval. Family not always work well. You love mother and sister?” he enquired.

Walter’s eyes glowed brighter, “Yes, very much.”

It was at that moment the conversation between the other troll’s turned back to the changeling, with Nebula asking, “What are you going to name your sword Stricklander?”

“Name it?” Walter said incredulously, raising a brow in surprise at the odd question.

“Yes! Names hold power and the most famous weapons of troll kind are usually characterized by a great name!” Blinky cried out, shocked at Walter’s obvious scepticism.

Walter sighed, thinking hard about a possible name to humour the troll, he hesitated, before saying, “How about Moonlight, since it seems to have a glow almost like the moon.”

The four-armed troll clapped his hands together with a beaming smile, “That is an excellent name!”

 

After that the conversation turned to much more relaxed topics that Walter was content to just listen to.

In no time at all the evening had passed and Walter, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh said their final goodbyes to Nebula and Lief.

Aaarrrgghh managed to drag him into another group hug, which the changeling did not appreciate at all, by the time he finally got away it was late and the streets of Trollmarket, usually teaming with life, were practically deserted.

Yet Kanjigar and Vendel’s raised voices still almost caused Walter to jump out of his skin in surprise, they were standing near the base of the crystal staircase in a heated discussion.

Walter strained his ears, catching the end of a sentence, “- you cannot keep doing this! Especially after your run in with Bular, you are still healing, and I will not have you further injured.”

Growling, Kanjigar opened his mouth, ready to argue against Vendel but stopped himself at the sight of Stricklander lurking nearby out of the corner of his eye.

With a sword slung across his back in a similar fashion to Kanjigar’s own blade.

“Where did you get that?” Kanjigar demanded, wondering where the changeling had acquired such a fine weapon.

Stricklander gave him a tired look, not in the mood to start an argument, “It was a gift, before you start accusing me of stealing.”

Vendel banged his staff on the ground ominously, “If you two begin arguing I will knock both of your heads together!”

Kanjigar growled but tersely said, “Fine, I will go back to my dwelling, obviously there is no point arguing with you! Farewell Stricklander.” The Trollhunter added curtly as he passed Walter.

The Trollhunter and himself would never really be friends, but they had established a degree of respect between each other, even if Kanjigar would automatically think the worst of him if he said or acquired anything that to the Trollhunter’s eyes was suspicious.

Vendel was another matter entirely. Walter would never in all his years know what on earth the old troll thought about him, he was absolutely undecipherable.

Walter attempted to slip away, eager to get home, but was stopped by Vendel’s large hands on his shoulder.

Turning to the elder of Trollmarket Walter raised a brow expectantly, earning him a disapproving huff but Vendel stated, “I heard you will be visiting your family and plan on revealing yourself to them.”

“You were spying on us!” Walter accused, his wings bristling.

The elder tapped him inbetween the horns gently with his Heartstone staff, “No, merely observing without being seen there is a difference.”

Walter snorted, reminding himself to use that excuse if he was ever caught spying.

“Is that all? I would like to go home you know!” Walter complained.

Vendel raised a brow, “Alright, stay safe, try not to get killed by one of your English troll cousins, I have heard they are particularly violent during this time of the year.” And with that the elder of Trollmarket shuffled away.

Walter shook his head, muttering with a roll of his eyes, “I just cannot _wait_ to visit my family!”

 

 


	17. chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter, Barbara and Jim arrive in England and Walter struggles to keep his changeling secret from being discovered and a midnight flight almost ends in ruin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anything in bold is trollish.  
> Heads up! The next update might take a bit longer to post;)

 

 

Walter, Barbara and Jim left their house early in order to arrive at the airport on time, living in the middle of nowhere had its disadvantages, and being stuck in a car for almost the whole day was one way to quickly lose your mind.

It got worse when they entered the airport. Walter was not ready for the explosion of sounds and scents that bombarded him. Only Barbara’s firm grip on his arm prevented him from keeling over.

“Walt?” She asked, staring into his eyes with worry, Walter shook his head, rubbing the side of his temples with a wince, “I’ll be fine.” He managed to say.

“Do you think you’ll…” Jim trailed off pointedly, gazing out at the crowds of people surrounding them.

Walter shook his head again, determinedly pushing his pain to one side, he wouldn’t give in to his instincts. Namely changing forms and flying out of here.

Luckily, everything went smoothly, and they managed to board the plane with no trouble, although Walter found it amusing that even if the plane crashed, he would be absolutely fine, having wings in his other form.

He wisely decided not to point that out to Barbara and Jim, seeing no point in riling them up for nothing.

They got to their seats and were soon flying towards England and whatever awaited them there. Hopefully Walter could get through this visit without revealing just how much he had changed, although he was starting to doubt it.

 

By the time the three of them arrived in Wiltshire it was late at night, and they had to call a taxi to drop them off just a short walk from the farm his father owned.

After the taxi had gone, Walter switched forms, sighing in relief as his wings snapped out.

Which caused Barbara and Jim to jump, not expecting the sudden change. “Please don’t tell me you’re going to walk up to the house like that.” Barbara frowned.

Walter grimaced, “I’m not that brave, I just wanted to see everything like this.” He spread his wings out, savoring the chilly air that whistled past him, the paint on his body glowing faintly.

He gazed up at the sky, captivated by how bright the stars were here until he felt Jim’s penetrating stare and turned towards him, eye ridge raised.

“Let’s hurry up and get inside, its freezing cold out here.” Jim complained, tugging up the collar of his jacket with a small shiver.

Walter smirked and then switched back to human form. And immediately regretted it. “Why is it so bloody cold?” he hissed out, wrapping his jacket tightly around him.

The cool temperature was startling, especially after being so comfortable in his troll form.

Barbara rolled her eyes, “Well, now you know how we feel, let’s go inside. I guess we’re just not used to this colder climate.” Shivering, she set off down the dirt path, Walter and Jim close behind her.

The farmhouse came into view, a large solid building made from red bricks and polished mahogany wood, with large windows, the barn a short distance away with its straw thatched roof and its crooked beams, the forest surrounding the whole place in a shroud of darkness.

It really hadn’t changed much at all and he was at once nervous and eager as he knocked on the front door, which flung open almost immediately to reveal his sister Marigold.

Marigold was very different from him, she had taken after their father and had blue eyes and wild strawberry blond hair that was always flying around everywhere, she was loud and optimistic, two traits Walter did not have at all and reminded him now of Blinky.

She hugged him tightly, her scent of warm honey and flowers almost suffocating the changeling.

“Walt! Its so good to see you! And look at you Jim, my what a handsome man you’re turning out to be.” Jim gave a small smile, his cheeks flushing bright red in embarrassment, as Marigold hugged him and then Barbara.

Eventually they got inside the house, which was thankfully nice and warm, and it took them a minute to get their coats and shoes off, dumping the luggage in the hallway by the stairs.

Marigold led them into the sitting room, a large blazing fire warming the three weary travelers wonderfully, the stern paintings hanging from the wall staring down at them in disapproval, even though they were long dead.

The long cream coloured L-shaped sofa was occupied by Walter’s parents. Edward was a weathered man, getting on in years and balding, but his eyes were still as penetrating as ever in their icy blue disapproval.

His mother was tall, thin and had black hair streaked grey with the bright green eyes and hooked nose similar to Walter’s own.

She stood up at the sight of him, surprisingly spry and agile for a woman of her age.

Walter stepped forward, the first to embrace Elizabeth, who smelled delightfully like home, warm, soothing and welcoming.

“Walter, Barbara and Jim, it’s wonderful to see you all again.” She said softly, smiling warmly.

“It’s really nice to be here after so long, right Jim?” Barbara asked, turning to him with an eyebrow raised.

Jim grinned, “Yeah the only thing that would make this better would have been if Toby had come with us again.”

Walter and Edward let out twin groans of annoyance at that, exchanging surprised looks at the flitting moment of similarity.

Edward grunted, before saying, “Well, James, the last time that friend of yours visited was a bloody nightmare so I am relieved you didn’t bring him along.”

Jim made a face at Walter, for some reason his grandfather insisted on calling him ‘James’ which no one ever called him, and Jim hated being called that it made him sound so _old_.

Walter helped his mother back to the sofa, Barbara close behind him. They all sat down, Walter and Barbara next to Elizabeth and Jim reluctantly with his aunt and grandfather.

Walter had to admit, being able to smell so clearly was very useful, since he could tell his father actually was happy to have Walter here.

Although, and he wasn’t quite sure, his father seemed to be in pain, but was hiding it well.

Before he could comment on it there was the sound of small claws on the wooden floor outside the room and two sheepdogs nosed their way inside, one elderly and slow, the other young and excited.

Jim immediately greeted them, laughing when Patch, the younger dog, licked him eagerly all over the face and put his muddy paws all over Jim’s jeans.

Shadow, the other sheepdog was slightly more reserved, but Jim was gentle and allowed the dog to come to him, letting Shadow delicately lick his hands.

And then Patch approached Walter, and the dog stiffened, his ears pressed back and started barking.

Walter winced, he should have known this would happen! At least it confirmed even with animals he knew, to them he was a dangerous intruder.

His parents and sister exchanged perplexed stares and Edward, with a shake of his head, dragged the terrified Patch outside.

His mother stared at Walter, “That has _never_ happened before, what on earth got into Patch? He’s normally friendly.”

Jim and Barbara looked at each other in worry, it was startling seeing a dog they knew act so negatively around someone who ought to be familiar.

Walter gave a soft sigh and watched warily as Shadow approached him, bracing himself for a similar reaction which would surely be upsetting.

Shadow slowly came nearer, his hackles raised, and ears pricked cautiously, the old dog had once been Walter’s and he had rescued Shadow from drowning when the dog had been little more than a scruffy abandoned puppy.

For a short time, a couple of years, the dog had lived in Arcadia, but Walter had reluctantly been forced to give him to his parents when pets around the town had mysteriously started to disappear without a trace.

Walter assumed troll’s may have been to blame for that and it was no wonder that upon smelling him Shadow could sense the predatory nature of his trollish side.

Carefully, Walter extended his hand towards Shadow to sniff, which the dog did, staring up at him in confusion, clearly unsure if Walter was the same person.

“It’s alright Shadow, I’m not going to hurt you.” Walter whispered under his breath in what he hoped was a reassuring tone.

Shadow’s ears perked up in recognition, the tension leaving the old dog’s body, he leapt up, licking Walter on the face and neck, which the changeling was for once happy about, delighted that not all animals would stay away from him he gave a happy laugh and ruffled the dog’s fur.

 

When Edward came back into the room, Shadow was calmly sitting by Walter’s feet while the changeling caught up with what his mother and sister had been doing since the last time they had visited.

Edward grunted as he sat down on the sofa, “Patch is such a dumb dog, getting wound up over nothing like that!”

“Father really! That’s not very nice, Patch is really clever, just yesterday I caught him opening the back door-.” Marigold continued talking but Walter zoned out absently taking in his sister’s cloyingly sweet almost milky scent…

Frowning, Walter gazed at Marigold, his sharper eyesight noticing a slight bump to his sister’s belly.

“You’re pregnant!” Walter exclaimed without thinking, causing everyone in the room to stare at him in surprise.

Walter felt his ears redden in embarrassment at the stares of his family and Marigold’s eyes widened, “How-that was meant to be a surprise!”

His father narrowed his eyes suspiciously while Barbara and Jim congratulated Marigold.

Barbara immediately inquired about Marigold’s health, her natural doctor instincts taking over and diverting the conversation from questioning how Walter had known Marigold was pregnant.

Until his mother asked curiously, “But how did you know, Walter?”

He shrugged, “I guessed, her belly has already started to swell.”

“Yes, but it has only been less than three months, you must have suddenly developed super sight!”

Walter smiled, “Yes, something like that.”

 

The rest of the night passed relatively peacefully, apart from the dog’s sensing what he was and his slip-up about knowing Marigold was pregnant without being told in advance.

He still couldn’t believe his sister was pregnant, she had been about to give up after several harrowing, tear-filled failures.

But perhaps they would have good luck this time and soon be welcoming a new addition to their family.

 

 

The night was calm and relatively cloudy, Walter was by the window of their room, a beautifully wooden paneled and thickly carpeted place at the top of the farmhouse with an old quilted bed cover that was made by Walter’s grandmother and a heavy, black painted wardrobe nestled in the corner.

Jim was sleeping in the same room as Marigold, just down the corridor.

Barbara walked over to him, after carefully locking the door behind her, with her coat bundled tightly over her.

She took a deep breath before saying, “OK, you promise you’ll go slow? And not drop me? Or bang into anything? Or-.”

Walter cut her off with a kiss on her nose before replying gently, “Barbara I promise, we’ll just go over the forest and back, since I don’t think I will be able to hold you for long.”

Barbara grimaced at that, brushing past Walter she clambered out of the window, gripping onto the tiles of the farmhouse roof for dear life.

Cautiously, and regretting his offer for going out for a midnight flight with his wife, he shifted onto his troll skin, following Barbara out of the window.

His claws gripped the tiles below him tightly as he twisted around slightly, in order to glance at the light that was on in his father’s study warily.

Barbara tugged on one of his wings impatiently, eager to experience flying for herself, wondering if it would be as incredible as Walter had said it was.

Walter turned to her expectantly, “Let’s go before someone sees us.” She said nervously.

“Right.” Walter replied, tearing his eyes away from the window light and carefully clasping his claws around Barbara.

Taking a deep breath Walter leapt into the air, catching a gust of wind that helped him climb higher, although it was slightly wobblily due to the added weight of Barbara, who was gripping onto his forearms tightly.

A stronger gust of wind knocked into him, causing him to go into a sharp bank, eliciting a small yelp from Barbara.

Walter leveled off, adjusting the position of his wings slightly so he could coast in the air, with minimal wing beats, a trick he had only just perfected and which made his flight smoother.

The forest came into view below, tall, dark and beautiful and Barbara let out a sharp gasp of awe at the far away ground.

She was _in the air_.

The thought only now hit her, this was the most incredible, unbelievable thing in the world.

Walter stiffened at her gasp and ducked his head, peering at her out of the corner of one gleaming eye, “You alright?” he asked, worried his sudden movements may have hurt her.

Barbara laughed and stretched her arms out wide, enjoying the wind that brushed her face and the utter freedom of the moment, “I’m better than alright! This is… AMAZING!”

Walter chuckled at her joyful response, the sound reverberating against her body, “I know! If I had a choice, I would be flying every single day!”

And even though he knew Barbara wouldn’t like it he did a quick roll in the air, Barbara yelping in surprise and desperately holding onto her glasses to prevent them falling off.

Once Walter was level again, she wacked him on the chest in annoyance, even though that spin had been pretty incredible for a belly churning instant.

Although Walter had promised not to do that, so she scolded him with a very annoyed, “ _WALTER_!”

The changeling gave another laugh before dropping lower in the air banking into a smooth curve round, to head back home.

He was so busy focusing on where he was going that he didn’t see what Barbara did.

Namely a massive stone beast, thickset and monstrous, launch a massive hooked spear in Walter and Barbara’s direction.

She acted completely on instinct and pushed Walter’s right wing at a point near his shoulder, causing the changeling to sharply swerve to one side, Walter twisted his head just in time to see the spear arch over him and disappear into the forest below.

Walter gripped Barbara tighter in his claws in alarm as a massive troll roared angerly from below, **_“My territory! Go away and give me yummy fleshbag!”_**

The thing must have been as large as Bular and was a rich red with curved upwards pointing antlers and thin crystals trailing down from its bulky shoulders, a long lashing tail lying limply on the ground behind the brute.

Its eyes burned a hateful shade of blue and purple as it reached for another spear tied onto its back and Walter growled, “Hold on!” Before arrowing upwards, wings tucked in tight, just as the second spear whizzed through the air, almost clipping him.

Walter burst through the clouds, frantically beating the air to get as far away from the forest and the bloodthirsty troll as possible.

 

 

“Well, at least we know not to come out here again. Or go anywhere near the forest.” Barbara said shakily as Walter landed on the roof of the farmhouse.

 As much fun as it had been flying with Walter, she certainly didn’t want a repeat of that, ever, and she was quite happy staying snuggled up in bed with no troll’s around.

Walter snorted at her attempt at a light-hearted comment, one that failed as the changeling could smell the fear on her.

He gently kissed her on the forehead, “It’s alright, we’re safe now.” He reassured her, Barbara sighed, giving Walter a small smile and crawled into the house, the changeling right behind her.

Turning to the window Walter shut it and winced at the slamming sound it made due to a gust of wind that had decided to make the whole wall shudder.

A voice called out; Marigold. “What was that?”

Walter found himself automatically responding, forgetting his voice was different in his troll form, “We’re alright, just the wind outside.”

He had gotten used to his troll voice enough to not realize his mistake until Barbara, with a face-palm, gestured at his stone body frantically.

Just as Marigold demanded, “Walt was that you?”

Her voice was coming closer and Walter panicked the light around him as he changed forms especially bright, much to his dismay.

He winced as the door rattled, Marigold attempting to get inside, “What was that light?” she burst out when Barbara unlocked the door, scanning the room suspiciously, eyes landing on Walter.

“What happened to your voice?” She asked.

“Nothing, I just have a slight cold.” Walter quickly improvised, coughing slightly and making his voice raspier.

Marigold relaxed and didn’t inquire further about the light she had thought she had seen.

Walter sighed, his ruse had worked, but how long would it take until his secret was discovered?

 

 


	18. chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter bumps into a familiar forest troll after his sister foolishly goes for a walk in the forest and his changeling identity is revealed in the most dramatic way, because apparently it is too much to ask for any quiet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anything in italics and bold is in trollish as usual.

“Dad! Watch out!” Jim hissed in warning as Walter’s hand almost brushed against an iron pan, he snatched his hand away, feeling the warning buzz of the pure iron he had almost failed to detect.

That had been far too close for comfort.

It was early evening currently, little more than two days after the forest flight misadventure and Walter had been cooking with Jim and his mother, right now himself and his son were cleaning up the dishes and Walter had narrowly avoided revealing himself in all his troll glory, again.

Several times this had happened, where he had almost shown his new form to his family accidentally.

Once when he had woken up in his troll form, bizarrely, and his mother had almost entered the room to a half-asleep winged troll, if Jim hadn’t at that moment exited his room and greeted Walter’s mother, unintentionally saving his dad from being discovered in a very awkward way.

 Another time had been when Walter had almost flashed his eyes at his father when he began to criticize him excessively.

And now this latest blunder that would have been the most spectacular of disasters if Jim hadn’t warned him.

His father had seen the whole exchange, as he had been standing in the doorway of the kitchen watching Jim and Walter work together with an almost fond expression on his face, which had now changed to suspicion.

“What’s the matter with you? That pan isn’t going to bite you.” Edward said.

“Dad has an allergy.” Jim supplied helpfully, which only made his grandfather frown, raising an eyebrow in incredulousness he said slowly; “Walter is allergic? To _iron_? When did this happen?”

Jim answered for Walter again, not giving him a chance to respond with a suitable lie that wouldn’t make his father even more mistrustful of him.

“Around two months ago, roughly. It’s been pretty crazy and-.” Walter covered Jim’s mouth with his hand, “Its nothing, really.” Walter reassured his father quickly, inwardly wincing at that blatant lie.

Edward gazed at him levelly, brain whirling with fragmented thoughts and ideas before saying softly, “How about horseshoes? I suppose you can’t touch those either?”

Walter knew he was probably showing alarm and surprise as his father’s face took on a thoughtful expression and he turned around abruptly, marching out of the kitchen.

Jim gulped nervously, his eyes darting to Elizabeth, but she hadn’t heard anything.

“Sorry.” Jim muttered once Edward was out of hearing.

Walter shook his head, “This has gone on long enough, Marigold and father know something isn’t right with me, and I wouldn’t be surprised if mother has noticed my odd behaviour too. I think it may be time to tell the truth.” He reluctantly said.

And then Barbara burst into the kitchen, fear radiating out from her in waves, “Walt! Your sister just decided to go out in the forest for a walk. Alone!”

“What!?” Walter exclaimed, “Has she gone mad?! For god’s sake! I’m going after her, she can’t go out, especially since she’s bloody pregnant!”

Jim gazed at both of his parents in wide eyed horror, “Isn’t that crazy troll out there? The one that wanted to eat mum?”

Walter nodded, glancing towards the door in fear for Marigold. Jim swore and Walter was too agitated to tell him off, instead he brushed past Barbara and headed towards the back door, only to be halted by his mother.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” she asked.

“Marigold went outside!” he said lamely, knowing that was not a convincing reason but too agitated to think of anything else to say.

His mother gazed at him skeptically, “Yes, but it’s perfectly safe around here, there are no bears or wolves in England, in case you forgot. And for once it’s warm.”

“Still, she’s pregnant.” Walter persisted.

Elizabeth sighed, realizing it was no point arguing, something was obviously wrong, but Walter was almost panicking, which was very rare seeing as he was normally quite mild mannered.

And for an instant she swore his eyes had shone gold, but it must have been a trick of the light, or she was getting old and needed to get her eyes tested.

Shaking her head, Elizabeth moved out of Walter’s way and watched wordlessly as he rushed out of the backdoor and into the inky blackness of the night, a blindingly bright flash of green light momentarily lighting up the surrounding forest around Walter’s form, the whoosh of large wings reaching Elizabeth’s ears.

Unsure and shaken by what she had seen and heard, Elizabeth backed away from the door, sending out a silent prayer that Walter would be safe and whatever was out there wouldn’t hurt her son and daughter.

 

 

 

Walter barreled through the forest, using his wings when he could to speed up, following the soft scent of Marigold through the trees. She couldn’t have gone far, so he would probably reach his sister before any territorial troll’s could.

He dug his claws into the bark of the tree below him as he heard a high-pitched scream, followed by a booming roar.

Walter had a flashback of his encounter with the bear in Arcadia and fear filled him, this wouldn’t be a mindless beast this time, he would be using everything Kanjigar had taught him in this fight.

He sped up and only halted once the red troll from his and Barbara’s midnight flight came into view, a massive ax in hand and towering over a helpless Marigold.

Walter watched as the troll stepped closer to his sister, snuffing her face with a leer of triumph. **_“You are food.”_** he sneered, saliva dripping onto Marigold’s hair, she shivered in revolution, closing her eyes in fear.

Walter felt a savage burst of anger explode out of him in the form of a powerful roar as he leapt out of his tree and thudded in front of Marigold, drawing his sword with a rasp of steel.

**_“You will not touch her.”_** He stated quietly in a low snarl of suppressed rage, spreading his wings threateningly.

He didn’t look back at Marigold as she gave a small whimper of fear and confusion, his eyes trained on the other troll grimly.

**_“You are that human lover from before! You dare come here again?”_** the red brute bellowed incredulously.

Walter didn’t answer and began circling the bigger troll, looking for a weak point as the bigger troll sized him up in amusement, tail lashing leisurely.

Walter tightened his hold on Moonlight, waiting for the inevitable attack, he wasn’t disappointed.

The red monster lunged forward, ax swinging down heavily, and Walter managed to only just about parry the attack, the force of the bigger troll’s strike pushing him back and sending vibrations up his arms.

Gritting his teeth together, Walter backed up, and sprung into the air, disappearing into the darkness above, causing the red troll to roar out; ** _“Come back you coward!”_**

Walter stayed in the air, sword at his side and at the ready as the monster grabbed Marigold roughly by the ankle, dangling her in the air.

Marigold screamed, limbs failing around wildly, despair evident in her wide blue eyes.

Walter forced himself to ignore her cries, he had to time this right, otherwise he would probably wind up dead.

The troll made the mistake of relaxing, clearly convinced Walter had given up and fled, it was then the changeling struck.

Walter arrowed down and brought Moonlight slicing through the hand of the beast holding Marigold up as if the stone flesh was butter.

The troll howled in pain as the appendage thudded to the ground, Marigold gasping in shock as she landed on the ground, gazing at Walter in awe.

The antlered troll dropped to his knees, head bowed in agony, cradling the stump where his hand had used to be.

Walter stepped forward, tusks fully bared, and snarled out; **_“I’ll give you a chance to back out, no one needs to die.”_**

The brute looked up in surprise before, unbelievably, bursting out into contemptuous laughter, _**“Where is the honor in that? I will fight, until my last breath.”**_

Walter blinked, momentarily shocked, and the troll used that moment of indecision to charge him, taking Walter completely by surprise.

He watched his sword go spinning away from him as the brute rammed Walter into the ground, the tip of his left horn snapping off painfully.

Even with only one hand the troll had him pinned, grinning in savage triumph the brute reached up to Walter’s head, the changeling snarled and tried to jerk his head away, but the troll roughly grabbed his scruff, ignoring the weak attempt from Walter to bite the grasping hand by clouting him over the head.

The troll lifted Walter into the air, laughing as Walter attempted to escape, withering and spitting furiously, wings beating desperately.

Walter hissed defiantly, he knew this was it, there was no way to get out of this. But he would be damned if he went quietly.

What he didn’t expect was the troll to stiffen suddenly and let go of him. He thudded onto the ground, twisting to see what had caused the troll to let go of him, and gaped in slack jawed amazement.

Marigold stood panting, trembling in fear, holding his sword which had green blood from the troll on its tip. She had stabbed the troll in the leg, and probably saved Walter’s life.

The changeling recovered from his shock first, **_“Pass my sword!”_**  he called, stretching out one hand.

And Marigold understood, even though he hadn’t spoken in English she threw it to him with all her strength.

Walter leapt into the air and caught it, before stabbing it straight through the beast’s eye and up into his brain.

The troll let out a bloodcurdling scream and collapsed at Walter’s feet, staring up at him in dawning horror. Walter smirked waiting a moment so that he could enjoy the look of helplessness in the bigger troll’s remaining eye and then plunged Moonlight into his chest, the already badly injured troll turned to stone almost immediately and crumbled into a pile of rubble.

Marigold sobbed and collapsed to the ground shakily, gazing at her fingers which were covered in green blood and then she stared up at the creature blankly as he sheathed his sword and limped towards her.

His shadow fell across her as he came closer and Marigold stared openly, he was completely real, there was no doubt of that, with his long horns and wings and glowing yellow eyes.

She braced herself, as he hadn’t spoken in English and it would probably be difficult trying to communicate.

So, she was very surprised when he knelt in front of her, so he was level with her face and asked, in perfectly clear and precise English, “Are you alright?”

He looked incredibly worried, his brow furrowed in a deep frown that was oddly familiar and reassuring.

“Honestly? No, I’m not alright, I almost got eaten by a stone monster and then got rescued by another stone creature and then stabbed that- that _thing_ with a bloody _sword_.” Marigold responded, her eyes wide and breath coming out in ragged gasps.

“Hmph, damn bloody wanking troll’s, they have to screw up everything.” Walter muttered in a low growl, shooting a dark look at the dead stone body that was crumpled in pieces on the floor.

“So, you’re a troll?” Marigold asked, wonder and awe on her face as she regarded the changeling.

Walter winced, how was he going to explain who he was to his sister? Why couldn’t he have told his family on his own terms?

“No?” he ended up answering, although it ended up sounding like a question.

Marigold didn’t look too impressed with that response and shakily got up from the ground, Walter remained crouched on the floor, gazing up at his sister expectantly, one stone brow raised, waiting for the denial of his existence.

“Alright, I know what’s going on here. This is some crazy hallucination caused by something I ate, I knew I shouldn’t have eaten Walt’s cooking, he always makes dodgy food!”

Walter let out an incredulous snort, “If you want to eat ‘dodgy food’ eat Barbara’s cooking, you’ll probably get food poisoning.”

Marigold stared at him, before bursting out in slightly hysterical laughter, “Oh, this is great! I’ve gone mad!”

Walter stood up, towering over Marigold, who stopped laughing her blue eyes wide and alarmed.

The changeling delicately grasped Marigold’s hands in his, yellow eyes firm and slightly desperate, “I assure you Marigold, you’re not mad, this is real, believe me.”

His sister frowned, peering into his face in confusion and shock, and then she found it, why this creature was so…familiar.

She stumbled back, shaking herself free from her _brother’s_ clawed hand and feeling like at any moment she would faint.

_“Walter?”_ she eventually whispered incredulously, staring at him in shock, confusion, befuddlement and all the other feelings of surprise she was currently feeling.

“I swear I was going to tell you I’m so sorry perhaps if I had told you earlier none of this would have happened it’s just that this is all still fairly new to me and I was scared of what you would think.” Walter blurted out in a rush, while carefully gauging that marigold was _not_ feeling revolution or fear about this by her scent, which was a relief.

Marigold shook her head, hesitantly stepping forward and reaching up slowly with one hand to his face, her fingertips inches away, Marigold glanced up into her brother’s alien eyes silently asking if this was alright.

Walter gave her a reassuring smile, one that was at once achingly familiar and alien.

Marigold rested her hand on Walter’s cheek, admiring how smooth and cool his skin was, he pressed his face into her touch firmly not at all scared of what Marigold thought of him as she was obviously not frightened or repulsed.

“Wow. This- you’re so-.” Marigold trailed off, at loss for words at this utterly bizarre situation of her brother being some stone creature with wings.

“Magnificent? Incredible? Amazing?” Walter finished for her, a bit of his troll pride kicking in as he puffed out his chest and spread his wings out.

Like he had hoped, Marigold gave a weak laugh and said, “Well, if I didn’t know it was you before, now I definitely know you’re my brother.”

Walter grinned at her, briefly displaying a row of pointy teeth, “It’s my charming personality that tipped you off, yes?”

Marigold laughed again, before hugging Walter tightly, resting her head against his bare shoulder, completely aware that he had saved her life and she his and curious about what on earth he was.

Walter immediately returned her embrace, wrapping his _wings_ , reminding her that apparently her brother wasn’t even human, around her gently.

“I love you so much Walt.” She mumbled, “I don’t care what you are.”

Walter sighed, “You don’t know how much that means to me my dear.”

He closed his eyes leaning his head against Marigold’s, only to hear something that sent a shiver of dread crawling up his spine.

The cries of angry trolls, who had probably heard their brethren’s death cry, Walter’s eyes snapped open again and he looked down at Marigold, who asked, “Walt, what is it?”

“More troll’s are coming, we have to get out of here.” Walter explained, nervously twitching his wings.

Marigold’s eyes flicked to them, still absolutely shocked that Walter was under this creature, “You can fly, right?”

“Yes.” He answered shortly, before grasping her around the middle tightly, “Hold on!” he added, feeling Marigold wrap her arms tightly around him, her face pressed against his chest with her eyes squeezed shut.

Walter launched himself into the air and flew as fast as he could away from the gradually louder calls of angry trolls.

Unfortunately, Walter’s luck ran out when the barn had just come into view and it took the form of an accurately thrown spear.

The spear clipped his wing and Walter felt a burst of immense pain as a bone was knocked out of its socket, Walter gasped, and he was so surprised he forgot to beat his other wing.

This sent him into a steep fall and Walter instinctively wrapped his body around Marigold’s as he crashed through the roof of the barn, wooden splinters piercing his stone body and Marigold’s terrified screams tearing at his ears painfully.

Eventually he hit the concrete floor, the breath completely knocked out of him he lay there, absolutely stunned.

Until Marigold scrambled up, pushing Walter’s limp wing aside and tugging on his arm desperately, “Walt, please say you’re alright!”

Groaning, Walter sat up carefully, his dislocated wing hanging awkwardly. Marigold gasped, looking at the wings unnatural position in growing alarm, “Is it… broken?”

Walter shook his head slowly, “No, just dislocated. You’re going to have to shove it back in its socket.” He managed to growl out, it wasn’t unbearably painful, but it was awfully uncomfortable.

Marigold took a deep breath in, her hands trembling faintly she reached over and delicately felt around Walter’s wings, finally finding the loose bone, “This is probably going to hurt Walt, you might want to brace yourself.” Marigold warned.

Walter nodded and dug his claws into the hay covered floor tightly, bracing himself for the inevitable pain.

Marigold exhaled shakily and shoved the bone as quick and hard as she could back into its socket.

 Walter flinched and let out a strangled sound somewhere between a yowl and a snarl.

“Oh god! Are you alright?” Marigold asked, worry radiating out from her wide blue eyes.

Walter rolled his eyes, carefully pressing his wing close to his body with a small wince before saying shortly, “I’ll live.”

“OK then, you still haven’t even told me what you are, are you even my bro-.”

Walter cut her off by covering her mouth with his hand, Marigold’s eyes widening at the coolness of his palm and the sharpness of his claws.

“Don’t even think that Marigold. This only happened to me less than three months ago, I’m definitely related to you by blood.”

He let his hand drop away as Marigold went a deep shade of red, “Sorry Walt, I guess I just…” she trailed off gazing into his inhuman golden yellow and red eyes helplessly.

Walter gave her a small smile, “It’s alright, I understand. You know back there in the forest I really thought after taking down that brute of a troll you’d ram me through too.”

Marigold let out a startled laugh, “You saved me, why would I do that?”

Before Walter could answer the wide doors of the barn creaked open and a bright light from a smartphone shone directly into Walter’s eyes, the gasps of fear only faintly heard as the changeling’s eyes adjusted and then widened in horror.

The long barrel of a shotgun was aimed point black at his chest, his fathers face contorted in fear and alarm, reflecting exactly what Walter was feeling currently.

Barbara, Jim and his mother stood slightly behind Edward, helplessness and worry on Barbara and Jim’s faces and confusion and alarm on his mothers.

Marigold stood up, stumbling forward quickly in front of him, arms outstretched protectively, “Don’t shoot him!” she panted out.

Edward looked at her in disbelief, “What are you doing? That’s a troll, those things are dangerous and can easily kill you! Come away slowly and it might not attack.” Edward said, the barrel of the gun now aimed at Walter’s head, he clicked the safety off.

 

Elizabeth had been utterly agape at the sight of the winged creature crouched on the barn floor and had been watching him carefully, so she immediately saw how his face, stone like, tusked and golden eyed, had hardened in anger and fear when Edward had pointed the gun at him.

And then those wide golden eyes had had met hers, scared and pleading and Elizabeth saw something in those eyes that made her roughly grab the gun off her husband and throw it to the floor.

They both watched the gun slide away and then Edward demanded, “What are you doing?!” He attempted to grab her wrist as Elizabeth began walking towards the creature, who was staring at her in surprised amusement, until Edward declared, “That thing will rip you to pieces, you will not go near it!”

Elizabeth shook herself free, “Edward! Trust me, alright?” she said.

Edward muttered obscenities under his breath with a glare in the direction of the creature, who sneered at him, revealing teeth that were sharp and pointy.

Yet as she approached his look of contempt faded into a peculiar expression of both guilt and love, marred by fear.

She brushed gently past Marigold, who grabbed her shoulder, pale faced and frazzled, “Mother, its Wa-.”

Elizabeth raised her hand and cupped it carefully around her daughter’s warm cheek, “I know.” She whispered quietly, eyes connecting with yellow inhuman ones, she smiled softly.

The creature, _her son_ , she knew who he was, of course she did, gazed up at her in startlement, his beautiful wings hanging by his sides limply, “How?” he asked simply.

His voice was…different. It was rough, gravelly and yet Elizabeth could still detect Walter’s voice beneath it if she concentrated.

Edward called her to come away but was stopped by Barbara and Jim who seemed to be already aware of Walter’s strange appearance.

Marigold hesitated, with a glance at her brother still crouched on the floor, before joining her sister-in-law in getting her father calm and explaining who the winged troll actually was.

 

Walter watched warily as his mother crouched down next to him, prepared to hold her if she fell, his mother shouldn’t have to literally get on the floor to talk to him.

He waited expectantly for his mother to answer and she sighed, “Walter, you’re my son. I really wouldn’t be a good mother if I cannot even recognise my own child.”

Walter deliberately flicked his wings, settling them close to his body, before sitting up so he could look into his mothers’ eyes directly. Which were fixed on his wings in fascination.

Walter spoke softly, “That is simply not true. Even if you didn’t recognize me immediately you still mean the world to me.”

Elizabeth smiled, she seemed to hesitate, but only for a fraction of a second before reaching over and placing her hand on top of his.

Her pale wrinkled and delicate hand was at such a contrast to his smooth, strong and clawed one.

His mother ran her fingers over Walter’s knobbly knuckles, looking up at him in spellbound awe, very similar to Jim’s first reaction to his troll form, and said breathlessly, eyes sparkling, “I always knew magic existed somehow, my mother told me so many stories about trolls, aliens and wizards but I would never have thought my own son would be like this. Edward even knew what you were.”

Walter couldn’t help but give a low growl at that, “Father has no idea what I am.”

Elizabeth couldn’t help but stare at Walter when he _growled._ It was such a wild and unexpected thing to hear from him of all people and Walter obviously could see her surprise.

He gazed bashfully at the ground not meeting his mothers’ eyes, slightly embarrassed at that uncalled-for growl and in the presence of his mother!

“Sorry mother, I’m afraid you’re going to have to get used to…well, certainly not human behaviour in this form.” He admitted.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him, her eyes scanning his stone body in bemusement, “I think I can deal with it.” She said dryly.

And then Barbara came over, red faced after shouting down Walter’s father and telling him that the creature he had been about to shoot was his son.

He hadn’t taken that well and had literally ran out of the barn to think about this unexpected information, clearly shaken about how close he had come to _shooting_ that creature that turned out to be his _son_. He’d had to get away to think about it.

Barbara found it quite cute finding Walter and Elizabeth sitting on the floor together, Elizabeth with her hand resting lightly on Walter’s but she couldn’t comment on it as she had to quickly pant out, “Edward just went out for a drive and said he wouldn’t be back until morning.”

Walter smiled humorlessly, his eyes still full of hurt at his father’s reaction clearly, “Good. At least I don’t have to worry about waking up in some laboratory.”

Barbara frowned at him, “Walt, he was scared and didn’t even know who you were, to be honest I don’t blame him for acting like that, minus that stupid gun.” She added hastily before saying softly, “My initial reaction to this was far from friendly, remember?”

Walter did remember, of course he did, it had only happened recently, hard to believe it really had only been under three months.

He sighed, “That’s true. Do you want to get back inside? I’m sure it’s absolutely freezing for you lot, being human and all.”

Marigold and Jim, who had approached behind Barbara while she had been talking both grimaced, not going to admit that they were cold.

In response to that comment Barbara gently tapped his right horn, the one that hadn’t snapped off at the tip.

Walter snorted, before standing up and without really thinking about it gently lifting his mother up too, her feet almost leaving the ground she was that light.

Elizabeth gasped, “My word you’re strong!” she exclaimed, green eyes wide.

Walter shrugged, “Not compared to a full-blooded troll.”

Marigold groaned impatiently, “If you’re not a troll then what the hell are you?”

“A changeling, not by birth as this only happened very recently, I have the ability to willingly switch between human and troll, although I’ll explain everything in detail once we are inside, it’s a long story.” Walter explained.

Both women looked happy with that answer for now, to his immeasurable relief.

 Walter turned to Jim, who had tapped him on the arm, “Let’s get inside then.” His son grumped with a shiver.

“Alright then, let’s go.” Walter declared and walked towards the warmth of home his family trailing after him.

 

It took under three minutes to get to the main house and it was spent in awkward silence, his mother and sister looking, no, _staring_ at him every five seconds as if not quite believing he was real.

It was unsettling and things didn’t get any better once inside, the sharp tap of his claws on the wooden hallway floor actually made his mother _flinch_ at _him_. Which only served to make him even more upset.

When Barbara flicked the lights on Marigold and Elizabeth openly gaped at him, mouths hanging wide in awe at Walter’s bright stone skin.

“Wow, you’re…green. And is that _paint_ on your body?” Marigold exclaimed.

Walter huffed, “Yes.” He answered shortly, watching in bemusement as his sister went bright red and muttering a short goodnight rushed out of the room.

The changeling glanced at Barbara and Jim, who looked equally bemused before turning to his mother.

Elizabeth regarded the elegant form of the changeling, _her son_ , in tired disbelief, gazing at his arching horns, elven like ears and massive ebony black wings.

She desperately wanted to comfort him, get to know this new version of him, but she was so, so exhausted right now.

Walter seemed to sense this, although he looked disappointed, “Go, get some rest, we’ll talk…just later.”

Although Walter didn’t know when ‘later’ would be, he just hoped his family would come to accept this as Jim and Barbara had.

 


	19. 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter has a discussion about his new state of being with his mother and sister and is inspected in troll form by his father.

Apparently, Walter wouldn’t be getting any rest tonight.

He woke up in the middle of the night, panting, in troll form naturally, after a particularly vivid nightmare of Marigold getting devoured by the troll he had slain.

He looked over at Barbara, who was curled in a ball, red hair flowing over her shoulders, fast asleep based on her muffled snores.

The gentle sound of her breathing immediately calmed him, and the changeling ran one claw gently over her head, Barbara’s brow furrowed, “Waltgetoff,” she mumbled sleepily, drawing the blanket more tightly around her body she went back to sleep immediately.

Walter didn’t have the heart to wake her up, instead he got up from the bed and attempted to change forms.

Just like he suspected, nothing happened. Scoffing in disgust at his traitorous body Walter decided the best thing to do was go downstairs and get out the back door, he really couldn’t be bothered to climb out a bloody window.

He breezed out of the room, his claws clicking on the hardwood until his feet touched the carpeted stair case, then his footfalls were completely silent.

He was just about to step off the last stair but froze when he almost tripped over the sleeping form of Shadow.

Crap, the dog would bring the whole house down with his barking when he saw the changeling!

Walter braced himself as the old sheepdog opened his eyes, peering up at the winged creature in momentary alarm, until he scented the air and realised who it was, well that explained why Walter had smelt funny.  
Shadow panted and rolled over, displaying his belly expectantly with a low whimper.

Walter’s eyes widened in surprise, hesitating for a second the changeling gave the dog a belly rub, careful not to prick Shadow’s soft belly with his claws.

Shadow licked his hand eagerly as Walter stood up and stepped over the dog to make his way down the corridor. Shadow scrambled up and, tail wagging happily, followed behind the winged troll.

Walter sighed, “Stay!” he hissed quietly to the old sheepdog.

Shadow cocked his head to one side and sat down with a small thump.

Relieved, Walter turned back around and carefully sniffed the air, straining his ears he caught the mutter of low voices.

Marigold and his mother evidently couldn’t sleep either.

He crept closer, pressing himself silently against the door of the sitting room he listened intently, flicking and swivelling his ears to get the best angle to hear what the two humans were talking about.  
“-I just don’t understand how this could have happened, and to Walter of all people!”

That was Marigold and they were talking about him, of course. Great now he was spying on them, since he definitely wanted to hear what they thought about him and was to scared to complement entering the room.

“Marigold these things happen for a reason, we cannot ignore this.” Elizabeth said with a sigh.

“It’s kind of hard to ignore mother, he’s like what? Seven feet tall and has wings and horns and-and fangs!” Marigold exclaimed loudly.

Walter huffed, crossing his arms with a frown, fangs? Really Marigold? They were tusks!

His mother answered softly, almost too soft for Walter to hear, “Well, I think he looks magnificent.”

Walter smiled warmly, feeling a faint flush of heat spread over his cheeks at that comment, although he immediately scowled at what his sister said in response; “He looks like a gangly gargoyle that should be perched ominously on a cathedral roof!”

His mother let out a strangled squawk of laughter before saying severely, “Marigold why do you have to tease your brother all the time?”

Marigold snorted, “Because Walter is normally so proper and snobby and this, whatever he is, changeling part of him, well its nothing like the Walt I know!”

Walter flinched, his ears lowering slightly at the faint trace of fear in his sister’s voice.

His mothers’ voice sharpened, “He’s still my son and your brother. I agree he is different, but at least let him explain how he became what he is without being cruel, we don’t know what Walter has been through.”

There was a pause, before marigold spoke again, “I saw him mother, fighting that-thing. He was so…fierce, proud and-and wild. It was like he was someone else entirely.”

Walter had decided he had heard enough and started to back away from the door, but Shadow, for whatever bizarre reason, barrelled into him.

Surprised, the changeling’s wings splayed out attempting to regain his balance, but to his horror he found he was already falling.

Closing his eyes tightly Walter toppled into the room and onto his face, his wings awkwardly spread out and Shadow perched triumphantly on his back.

Marigold and Elizabeth started in shock at the winged, green skinned and horned form of Walter in astonishment.

Right now, he looked the opposite of fierce, proud and wild, instead rather awkward and alarmed when he finally decided to open his gold and red eyes.

Then Walter seemed to finally realise he had a dog perched on his back as he shook himself violently, causing Shadow to tumble off with a whine, quickly scrambling up and trotting over to Elizabeth and laying down by her feet calmly.

“Screw you.” Walter growled, carefully standing up and shaking out his wings, wincing as his still sore wing gave a painful twinge at the movement.

Warily, Walter self consciously curled his wings in close to his body, his ears lowering slightly as he gazed at his mother and sister on the sofa.

They were both staring at him, wide eyed, but his mother recovered quickly and asked; “Why were you spying on us Walter?” Elizabeth was meeting his eyes unflinchingly, unlike Marigold who was avoiding looking directly at him.

Good, after hearing what she had said about him, and after saving her bloody life, the last thing he wanted was to look at her.

“At least I know what you really think of me.” Walter’s eyes pinned Marigold to the spot, when she risked a glance up and she blushed in shame, although she still managed to say heatedly; “That doesn’t give you the right to spy on us, why are you even down here? And like that.” Marigold shuddered.

Walter couldn’t help it, although he tried to stop himself, a low warning growl rumbled out, his tusks partly bared, he saw Marigold’s eyes widen in alarm and found he didn’t care.

He was too tired to try and control his trollish instincts and he waited tiredly for his mother to kick him out of the room.

He didn’t expect his mother being able to tell he was upset so quickly, “Marigold please be quiet.” His mother said before asking kindly, “Walter, why did you come down here?”

Walter calmed himself before answering; “I couldn’t sleep, I- I must have been having a nightmare, well I was actually, and I must have changed forms in my sleep, again. I thought I would be able to get outside but I heard your voices and was curious to hear what you were discussing, but obviously that was a mistake.”

Elizabeth was silent for a moment, she truly ached for her son and what he was enduring and immediately said softly, “Come here.”

Walter hesitated, but complied, walking the short distance to the sofa until he was awkwardly standing touching distance from his mother and sister.

Marigold wordlessly shuffled to one side, making room for him and Walter cautiously sat down, drawing his wings in close so that they didn’t brush against either woman.

His mother gave a light tut and hugged him close, drawing Walter to his mother and gently guiding his head down to rest on her shoulder.

Walter froze, surprised, as Elizabeth ran her fingers through his hair, slowly, tentatively, rubbing the bases of his horns in soothing circles, she began to hum a wordless lullaby, one that Walter could remember with clarity from when he had been little more than a baby.

He curled up closer to his mother in a tight prickly ball and allowed himself to cry lightly into his mothers’ warm cashmere jumper, letting go of all his sadness, fear and anger, shivering violently.

He felt soft hands on his back and knew Marigold had joined in the small huddle too, “I’m so sorry Walt.” She whispered tearily.

In response Walter curled his wings around both of them, and he cried until he was empty inside and utterly spent of emotion.

 

The three of them stayed huddled up together, Walter’s wings enveloping Elizabeth and Marigold loosely, his mother still gently rubbing circles around his horns and Marigold holding onto him tightly.  
She whispered in his ear so softly he almost couldn’t hear her, “I really am sorry I said those things about you, it wasn’t fair, can you forgive me?”

Walter was silent for a minute and then cracked one gleaming gold eye open to regard her in lazy amusement, that small gesture was so like Walter that Marigold felt another wave of shame and turned away slightly.

“Be a dear and scratch me just under my left horn, its feeling itchy.” Walter eventually said, grinning at her look of shock. 

Obviously, Walter had decided to forgive her, and she was not going to ignore the olive branch being offered to her, even if it was an odd request.  
Shaking her head with a small laugh Marigold reached up and scratched her brother delicately in between his horns.  
Walter turned his head so his sister could properly reach the itchy spot, finally allowing the purr he had been trying to restrict to rumble loudly out, causing his mother and sister to stop their lovely massage and stare at him in amazement.

“Oh my god! You’re purring, like a cat!” Marigold exclaimed.

Immediately his purr cut off, and Walter stated firmly, “Just pretend you didn’t hear that.”

Marigold raised one eyebrow at her mother, who was gazing at Walter in amusement, before saying, “Walt, I know what I heard.”

Her brother seemed to blush, but it was really hard to tell with his alien troll face, but his ears lowering showed he was embarrassed clearly.

Elizabeth shook her head, “Well, you did warn me about inhuman sounds, it’s nothing to be ashamed of Walter. What I really want to know is how you became a… changeling.” His mother said slowly getting the feel of the new word, Walter smiled in relief at her understanding and was about to tell a heavily shortened detailing of events but was stopped by Marigold.  
“Are you some sort of weretroll?” she asked.

Walter laughed, “No, I’m not. It all started when I decided to take a short cut behind Arcadia Oaks High School…”

 

Walter woke up, in bed and human, snuggled next to Barbara, he could almost forget last night and the conversation he’d had with his mother and sister.

He had only very briefly told them about how he had had wound up becoming a changeling, and he expected lots of questions when he went downstairs.

Sighing, he stretched, better to get it over and done with, with that he leaned over Barbara and kissed her lightly on the lips.

Her eyes fluttered open and crinkled in sleepy amusement, “My prince charming,” She mumbled, “why did you wake me?”

Walter rolled his eyes, “Its morning.” He deadpanned, completely straight faced.

Barbara pushed his shoulder with a light scowl, and chuckling Walter got out of bed, Barbara grumbling under her breath a little longer before following him out of bed.  
Once they had sorted themselves out both of them cautiously went down the stairs, unsure what reactions they would get.

Especially if Walter’s father was back. He pushed the dinning room door open lightly, seeing Jim eating a bowl of cereal with his mother and sister.

They all looked up and Marigold and Elizabeth stopped eating in order to stare at him.  
He had never felt this awkward with his family as he did then, not even when he first made the decision to move to America which had been pretty awkward.  
Jim wiped his mouth on his sleeve before saying with a small smirk, “Hey dad, grandma and auntie Marigold told me something very interesting, I mean, really? Spying on your mum and sister? And then getting busted by a dog? It’s just shameful.”

Walter really didn’t know what to say to that. Instead he flashed his eyes at his son in mild annoyance, seeing no reason to hide that small detail from his mother and Marigold.  
His sister gasped in alarm, turning to Elizabeth to see if she had seen that too, her mother remarked, “And here I thought I was going blind.”  
Walter snorted, feeling the slight tension he had sensed building in the room dissipate and sat down at the table next to Jim.  
Barbara settled down opposite him and inbetween his mother and sister, helping themselves to the breakfast that had been laid out on the table.

Marigold was still staring at him. “What?” Walter asked defensively.  
“How did your eyes do that? And don’t say magic, that’s not an answer.” She said fiercely.  
Walter shrugged, knowing that would infuriate his sister and replied mildly, “I don’t know.”

His mother leaned forward slightly in her chair, evidently wanting to ask her own question, Walter gave a small smile, raising one eyebrow expectantly.  
“Walter how- how do you change forms? You don’t have to physically show me, just explain.” She added quickly.  
Walter paused, formatting his answer in his mind before carefully saying, “Well, for starters its very quick, within a few seconds I can go from fully human to fully troll. Although initially when I first, well, changed I couldn’t revert back to human form.”  
Marigold paled slightly, wondering how that would have felt not knowing if it was possible to be human again, “How long was that for?” she asked eventually.  
“Around three days,” Walter said softly, “Although the elder of Trollmarket gave me a horseshoe in order to check if I was a changeling and that helped me initially change forms. But I don’t always have control, and I still find it hard to stay human sometimes. I bet with experience and time I should be able to master it.”  
His mother and sister were quiet for a while, before Elizabeth hesitantly queried, “So you can’t touch iron then?”

Walter nodded, “Pure iron reveals my other form and it also burns me, even if it’s not pure iron.”  
His mother frowned, “That will certainly need to be sorted out, we can’t have you getting hurt because of some iron lying around.”  
Walter blinked in surprise and his mother smiled warmly, “You don’t really think I would ignore that, did you?”  
Walter felt his ears redden, “No, of course not.”

After that the conversation went to more idle topics, like how Jim was doing at school and how Walter’s and Barbara’s jobs were doing.  
Somewhere along the way Walter ended up complaining about how Blinky and Aaarrrgghh had raided their house and the ridiculous things the two trolls got up to, which made them all laugh.  
Until Edward finally entered the room, instantly there was silence as Edward scanned the room his eyes immediately settling on Walter.  
“Get up.” He growled out.  
Walter looked at his father suspiciously and decided to stay where he was.  
“For god’s sake Walter, I’m not going to cart you off to be dissected or throw you out just because of what you are, you’re still my son and I promise I won’t do anything to you, so just please get up.”  
Walter reluctantly got up, stalking to where Edward was standing with his arms crossed.  
“How did you know what I was?” Walter asked, before his father could say anything.

His father briefly looked surprised before answering cryptically, “Let’s just say that those attacks on the sheep and farm I keep complaining about are a lot more dangerous than rabid dogs.”  
Walter heard Jim gasp and he turned slightly to meet Barbara’s eyes, that explained almost nothing and unsettled all present in the room that the trolls around here had attacked before.  
His father continued to speak, “I did some research and quickly found out what those things were and so far my… precautions, have worked in keeping them away from here.”

Walter narrowed his eyes at his father, “What precautions do you take? Because iron horseshoes only work on changelings and I’d rather not test to see if guns are useless on stone skin.”  
Edward frowned, regretting his reaction yesterday night to Walter’s secret even more, he decided now would be a good time to change the subject, “Change forms will you.” Edward demanded.  
That was the last thing Walter wanted to do right now, especially with most of his family watching.  
“You’re not serious.” He said incredulously staring at his father in disbelief.  
The look of irritation on his father’s face answered that question, and Walter sighed, there was no point arguing.

He allowed the green changeling light to envelope his form, feeling himself lengthen and stretch, his horns and wings snapping out in a burst of electricity, awkwardly drawing his wings in close to his body.  
Edward took a large step back in alarm and Marigold gasped softly.  
Walter straightened to his full height, lifting his chin up defiantly, waiting for the inevitable disapproval and disgust from his father, daring him to say something about his new form.  
He was not expecting what Edward did next, his father stepped forward, recovered from his initial shock and grasped Walter by the chin roughly, inspecting the changeling from horns to talons, tilting his head from side to side to get a good look at his eyes, tusks and ears.  
Walter was too surprised to do anything for a minute, but then he snapped out of it and snarled angrily, jerking his head free and raising his wings threateningly, “Do you mind?” he spat, mortified and embarrassed at how easily his father had completely taken him by surprise.

Edward looked taken aback at the ease Walter had in getting out of his grip and coolly stated, “You’re overreacting, I needed to get a good look at you. Your eye dilation is a bit wide but you seem to be in control of yourself, which is surprising. I would have thought a troll to be more primal and wild and harder to control.”  
Walter narrowed his eyes, “I’m not a troll, I’m a changeling.”  
Edward ignored him, the scientist in him curious about Walter’s new body he began to circle him, finally it was too much for him and Edward reached over and firmly grasped Walter’s wing joint, tugging it so his wing unfurled with a sharp snap.  
Walter huffed, “I can do that myself you know!” he muttered under his breath, like before his father ignored him.  
“Fascinating, your wings are made of stone, but they don’t really feel like it, the membranes are almost as supple as leather…they don’t weigh so much either… almost as long across as the body but are you capable of actual flight or merely gliding?” his father’s words tumbled out in a long rush his eyes gleaming.  
Walter didn’t answer, thinking his father was talking to himself, until he demanded, “Can you fly?”  
“Yes, but why on earth do you even care? I’ve never seen you act like this about me.”  
His father waved his hand in the air dismissively, “I’m not actually interested in you, rather what you’ve become. You’re stronger than any human, can fly, and still retain your intellect and don’t have rocks for brains.”  
“Gee thanks.” Walter said sarcastically, causing Jim and Marigold to snigger at the heavy sarcasm in Walter’s voice.

His father wasn’t amused, “Stop with the sarcasm will you, we have work to do to fix the barn roof you destroyed and I intend to use your new found troll strength to good use.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone had a amazing Christmas and have a happy new year! and please check out my new trollhunters fanfic which is under the same name.  
> ;)


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter helps his father fix the barn and has a opportunity to show off his new form.

Walter stared at his father in utter shock and without even thinking about it returned to human form before he did something he may have regretted later, it was safer being angry as a human rather than a troll as he still found it hard to control his emotions while stone skinned.

Seriously though, what did his father think he was? A slave?

This really explained the old man’s glee over his troll form, he wanted to use him, just like the trolls back in Arcadia wanted him for his human sunlight immunity his father wanted him for his troll strength.

Edward scowled at Walter’s switch back to human form, the sudden change had startled him, before continuing where he had left of, “You have nothing better to do and you can’t use the same excuses of the past! Especially with you learning how to fight.”

Walter didn’t know how his father had found out that particular detail but he favoured protesting rather than questioning right now, “ That is for self defence and completely different from you wanting me just for my troll strength and endurance!”

Elizabeth sighed from the table, “Edward that’s hardly fair on Walter, you can’t abuse his... Gift and make him slave away for you!”

Edward grunted, “He’s the one who ripped a goddamn hole in my barn, I’m getting too old for this and the least he can do is help me.”

Walter looked over at Barbara helplessly and she gave him a pointed glance at his father, Walter grimaced letting out a heavy exhale of breath, “Its alright mother, I’ll help him.”

 

The day was incredibly predictable for England, cloudy, cold and looking like it was about to pour down with rain at any moment.

Although a superstitious sniff of the air told Walter it wouldn’t rain just yet.

Barbara, Jim and Marigold joined him and Edward for there was nothing else to be done around the house, his mother had refrained from tramping outside and had elected to stay inside, nice and warm by the roaring fire.

Walter really didn’t blame her.

Approaching the barn the hole in the roof was glaringly obvious, although he had half expected it to be worse with the force and weight of his collision.

His father went to the heavy doors and pulled on the door handles to try and open them up but nothing happened, something was blocking the doors from the inside opening.

He watched his father struggle with cool indifference, a part of him enjoying the helplessness and pathetic weakness of humans.

Walter really sometimes was surprised at how alien his own thoughts were.

Barbara obviously wouldn’t allow him to stand there as she gave him a none too gentle jab in the side with a 'do something or else' expression.

Feeling only a small twinge of guilt, Walter changed form’s, eliciting two surprised yelps from his sister and father.

Ignoring them, he stepped towards his father purposefully, the man scrambling out of his way as the changeling gave the stubborn door a firm shove by bracing his shoulder against it, with a screech of protest the doors crashed open, rattling at the force of the push.

“Oops.” Walter said, his eyes wide in surprise at what he had thought had been a light push but had turned out to be too forceful, he still didn’t really have a firm understanding of how much stronger he was.

But it was worth it, seeing his father look so shaken by s simple action.

Edward stared at the glittering eyes of the changeling with a shudder, that look scared him, he was so used to easily reading Walter’s expression's as they were so similar to his own, but right now he was undecipherable.

“After you.” Walter almost growled out, sweeping one wing at the barn almost mockingly, Edward frowned, but stepped forward inside.

He would have to keep a firm eye on Walter, he was unpredictable right now, who knew the actual extent of the physiological changes in his sons mind while like this, he could potentially snap and they’d all be utterly helpless to do anything.

Once they were all inside, Walter automatically moved over to the light switch and flicked the power on, the lights buzzed for a moment and then stabled, the low yellow light casting everything in shadows.

It wasn’t that badly damaged, just the area below the hole in he roof which was covered in saw dust and large jagged pieces of wood and metal.

And one of the support beams at the roofs ceiling looked like it would at any moment fall down and bring the whole place tumbling down on them.

He scanned the rest of the barn, everything else seemed fine, the old tractor was still rusting in the corner surrounded with junk, a mess in comparison to the neatly stacked hay bales on the opposite side, he could also hear the horses in the paddock outside whinnying nervously, wherever at his presence or the danger of the loose beam Walter could not tell.

He risked a side glance at his father, he was eyeing the loose beam with a critical look of disapproval.

“Um, is it just me or does that beam support thing look kinda wonky?” Jim nervously asked.

Edward responded without looking at him, “It is, although it was already loose until your father decided to crash through my barn. Although it’s a lot worse now.”

Walter felt like his father was putting unnecessary emphasis on how he had damaged his father's precious barn and decided to inform him on the state he was in when it happened, “You try landing safely when you’re being chased by bloodthirsty trolls and your wing is dislocated.” He grumped.

His father blinked and Barbara let out a incredulous sigh, moving closer to him she gently asked, “Which wing?”

Wordlessly, he half extended the limb that had been injured and Barbara gently felt it, running her fingers along the thin outer edge bone, “Well, the bones are in line so at least I don’t have to re-set it.”

Walter fidgeted impatiently as Barbara examined him, intently focused on staring at the barn wall as he didn’t want to see his sister or father watching him like a curious type of animal.

Finally Barbara gave a brisk nod, happy that the wing was in working order, she stepped away from him and Walter relaxed and without thinking about it bumped his forehead against hers, grateful for Barbara's doctor approval of his wing being sound.

Barbara smiled, “As long as you don’t strain it I think you’ll be alright.”

He rolled his eyes, “I don’t need a doctor to tell me that.”

His father cleared his throat and Walter and Barbara turned to him, Edward had a look of curiosity on his face mixed with mild disgust, Marigold however was looking at them with a soppy smile.

“Aww, you two are so cute! I bet you’d be amazing in a beauty and the beast reproduction.”

Barbara immediately went bright red and stated firmly, “Even if there was, we would never participate, no way.”

Walter felt his ears heating slightly at his sisters statement, he personally agreed with Barbara, practically, no one would think he was wearing a costume, anyone taking a good look at him would know without a doubt he was real.

Although a small part of him would have enjoyed doing something so risky and exiting.

He risked a glance at Jim, who was stifling laughter, he met his son's eyes and he cheekily said, “I think you’d do amazing, I mean can you imagine what everyone would say?”

Walter groaned, “I really don’t want to imagine, father can we just get on with fixing this damn barn.”

Edward raised an eyebrow, “I thought you’d never ask.” 

 

The next hour or so was incredibly tedious for the humans present, as Barbara, Jim and Marigold were merely spectating, and his father was struggling, the first time Walter had seen him incapable of keeping up with a work load.

Naturally it fell to him to deal with the brunt of the work, although it was almost refreshing, he could get rid of all his frustration and anger productively rather than through combat.

The clearing of the wooden fragments was easy as he couldn’t get splinters and could carry a lot more weight than humanly possible.

The hole however was for now covered in a thick waterproof tarp, his father would have to call someone to properly deal with it.

The only real problem was the realignment of the support beam, which his father decided to deal with himself even though Walter would have been able to fix it much quicker.

“Push it more to the left!” his father called down to him, balanced precariously next to the creaking beam in order to tighten the loose screws.

Walter was on the ground so that he could keep the beam steady. At his father’s command he braced his claws in the wooden floor and pushed, the beam so that it canted towards the left with a protesting moan.

Edward reached over to tighten the last screw, after that he could climb down the ladder and have a long soak in the bath.

Much as he hated to admit it he was getting on in years and the realisation he was showing signs of arthritis was beginning to worry and pain him.

Although he was to proud to see a doctor, he hadn’t even told Elizabeth, he was so busy thinking he overstretched and his muscles contracted, seizing his limbs in needle like stabbing pain all over his arms.

To his alarm he found himself slipping and there was nothing to stop his momentum.

Walter saw all this and reacted on instinct, surging into the air in a instant, the powerful downbeat of his wings buffeting Barbara, Marigold and Jim causing them to stumble back.

His father dropped almost directly into his expectantly waiting claws and the changeling’s grip tightened at the unexpected weight, the smell of sickness was stronger and Walter wrinkled his nose at the sharp odour.

Edward hung limply, his face drained of colour at the sight of the far below ground, if he were dropped...

“Let go of me!” he shouted up.

Teasingly Walter relaxed his claws, “What? Right now?” he asked.

“NO!” Edward yelped, clinging tightly to him, as if really expecting him to drop his own father. 

Chuckling darkly, Walter swooped down towards the ground, his father letting out a high pitched scream as he deposited him gently on the ground, coming in to land without falling.

Edward stood up, red faced and wide eyed as Marigold came over to him, gently scolding him for not being more careful.

Walter sidled over to Barbara, a frown creasing his stony brows, “Father isn’t well, but I’m not sure what is wrong with him, can you please check him?”

“Are you sure?” Barbara asked. Walter gave a firm nod, his eyes dilated and ears pressed back in a now familiar show of worry.

As much as he sometimes disliked his father he didn’t want him to injure himself, because next time he may not be there to save him.

 

With much protest, Edward submitted to Barbara's administrations and it didn’t take her long to find out what was wrong.

He had arthritis and shouldn’t be doing anything strenuous, especially in rainy or damp weather which would inflame his joints and make him stiff and find it difficult to walk.

Edward knew he wouldn’t be able to get away with ignoring it, he was a intelligent man and it was clear his arthritis had to be taken seriously.

And there was also the fact Walter had saved his daughter’s life and his own within a few days because of his new found troll genes.

Edward regarded the green changeling, there were still traits and characteristics that were unquestionably Walter but other things that made his son seem even more alien than before all this magical troll business.

Unnatural, Edward decided as Walter turned and met his eyes, they shone at him, cool and reptilian, nothing human discernible in their depths, except...he could see his worry, sympathy, guilt and tiredness in them.

Alright, it was still Walter behind the literal stone face, it just took a little bit more careful observation to discern his expressions as a troll.

 

Marigold hesitated, before asking, “How did you know father was ill?”

Walter tilted his head down at her, faintly amused, “I can smell it, just like I could smell that you were pregnant.”

Marigold blinked, “Oh, so that’s how you knew. Can you tell how people are feeling by scent too?”

Walter frowned, suddenly suspicious of his sister’s interest, “Yes. Why?”

“Oh, no reason.” She smiled sweetly and almost immediately a cloying almost suffocating sweet scent decided to crawl up his nose.

He was pretty sure if he had been human his eyes would be watering. Walter shook his head, his wings fanning the air to try and dispel the offending smell.

Edward huffed, “What are you doing now?”

“Something pungent is clogging my nostrils.” He complained.

Marigold sniggered, her brother looked incredibly uncomfortable but her giggle broke her concentration thinking sweet thoughts towards him and Walter straight away relaxed.

And pinned her with a fierce glower, realising where the smell was coming from.

Marigold lowered her eyes sheepishly expecting him to be angered, she didn’t expect him to laugh.

When she looked up at Walter his eyes glowed warmly at her, “You know I’m really glad that Jim or Tobias didn’t find out about manipulating their scent like that, otherwise I may have actually gone mad.”

Jim turned with glee towards Marigold, asking eagerly, “How did you do it?”

Marigold grinned, “Well...”

"If you tell him I swear I'll fly away right this instant." Walter threatened.

Jim pondered for a minute, before a sly grin slowly spread across his lips, “That wouldn’t be such a loss.” He said.

Walter sighed melodramatically, “I know when I’m not wanted. I guess I’ll just go then.” He managed two steps and then had the absolute surprise of Jim giving a battle cry and literally leaping on to him and sending both of them crashing down in a tangle of limbs.

For a moment Walter was to shocked to do anything but stare at Jim, he had never done that before, ever.

Walter wasn’t exactly a rough and tumble kind of dad, it was something that simply didn’t cross his mind, although he had noticed trolls tended to play fight with their whelps.

Jim seemed to realise his mistake and blushed furiously, his dad’s eyes were wide but there was a glimmer to them that was almost playful, which encouraged Jim to make his move and brashly grab Walter’s horns.

The changeling gave a low rumble and flared his wings out and twisted, dislodging his son he tried to pin him down with his talons.

But Jim was faster than he gave him credit for and slipped out of his grasp and managed to clamber around until he was on his back.

Walter snorted about to try and fling Jim off him, gently, but was stopped by Barbara’s throat clearing.  
Both of them looked up, Jim still holding onto one of Walter’s horns.

Barbara asked wryly, “Guys I’d like to get out of here, go inside and drink something warm so can you stop fooling around?”

Walter’s eyes darted away abashed at his childish behaviour, Marigold rolled her eyes fondly, “Come on, it’s about to pour down with rain and I for one don’t want to be trapped here!”

Jim sighed, reluctantly releasing Walter and clambering upright, watching his dad change forms wishfully. Who knew when he’d have another opportunity to play fight with his dad?

Adjusting his lapels Walter briskly said, “Alright then, let’s go back inside, I could use some caffeine in my system after all that work.”

 

When they got back from the barn Elizabeth was, naturally, displeased with her husband’s admission to suffering from arthritis, but other than ordering him to have a soak in the bath and not do any work unless Christopher was with him she was fairly understanding.

Walter decided not to tell his mother about Edwards fall, no need to give her a heart attack.

They all had hot drinks and sat down at the sofas and Walter was relieved he could freely discuss what was going on in Arcadia and all the wonders of Trollmarket.

And Jim’s account of Walter coming into the house in troll form for the first time got everyone laughing.

At one point his sister asked curiously, “But Walt how come you were talking in the trolls language fluently if you’ve only been like this for under two months?”

Completely solemn faced Walter said simply, “Magic.”

Marigolds answer was drowned out by Barbara’s laughter, Jim protesting against his father’s statement and Elizabeth theorising about possible explanations.

It was crazy mayhem for a moment as everyone had something to say and yet Walter felt oddly content, he really wouldn’t change his family for the world.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter thinks back on the events of the last week and has a talk with his mother and wife after a midnight flight.

It was late at night, and Walter was feeling restless after another nightmare and wanted to escape the confines of the house, although this time he managed not to wake up Barbara by changing forms while asleep, which he was thankful for as he didn’t want to talk to her right now.

Slipping stealthily out of bed he spared a quick, furtive glance at Barbara’s sleeping form before edging to the window and slowly raising it up and ducking out onto the shingles of the farmhouse roof.

He closed the window firmly behind him and making sure no one would see anything suspicious from the other windows, changed forms in a quick burst of green light.

He sighed heavily, staring at his face in the nearest window, this face was still a shock to see, but it was no longer a frightening one. This was him.

Turning away he leaped into the air with one powerful downbeat of his wings. Flying was truly a gift he had never even thought was possible, yet was now one of the greatest things in his life.

He stretched the leathery membranes out, savouring the power held within them, he sailed up, gliding through the low hanging cloud cover, droplets of dew clinging to his stone body and glittering there like stars for a moment.

He slowly flew forward, letting his mind drift back to the last couple of days.

His family had settled down in regards to his new form, and the lack of control over it, although Edward was still very jumpy whenever Walter was in troll form since the accident at the barn.

He guessed it didn’t help he poked fun at his father a lot more readily when protected and bolstered by his stone skin.

He found, much to the disapproval of his human side, that he actually enjoyed causing his father to be afraid of him for a change.

Of course Barbara didn’t miss this and her disapproval was evident, to a point that Walter stopped, guilty at his terrible behaviour.

One thing noticeable about his Trollish side was the fact it always seemed eager to dig in to any weaknesses and exploit it as much as possible.

Walter shuddered, his wings shaking in the air, it was scary how vicious he could be while a troll, it wasn’t like him at all.

It actually scared him, the amount of anger and frustration he had while like this, just because he had accepted this didn’t mean he would have his wild emotions under control.

His mother also noticed this, however she knew it wasn’t fully his fault and was always willing to listen to him express his worries and concerns about his Trollish emotions.

It was harder to tell what Marigold thought of his troll form, sometimes she seemed fully accepting of it and was always asking questions about all things troll related but sometimes it was like she was scared of him and didn’t approach him while in troll form.

It was depressing seeing his own sister afraid of him and Walter had been determined to confront her on this matter. 

He could deal with his father, and if his brother found out about his changeling nature, being scared of him, but he wouldn’t deal with his sister feeling like that around him.

Even just thinking about it now, two days after that confrontation had him clenching his jaw and surging forward with a couple of hard thrusts of his wings.

 

Two days ago...

It had been a quiet day, no bloodthirsty trolls and no drama just peace.

Walter was sitting on the bed in his and Barbara’s room , back facing the door while Jim rubbed a special troll oil into his shoulders and wings, his son had insisted after seeing how dry and dull his skin was.

Walter had found the oil a couple of weeks ago and the owner of the stall had reassured him it would prevent his stone skin getting rough and dry, like Blinky's, and stay smooth.

It helped soothe aches and pains as well, which was a added bonus.

And of course the peace was disrupted by Marigold bursting in for some reason.

Marigold blinked, a flush spreading across her cheeks at the sight of her brothers surprisingly well muscled and completely naked back.

Walter’s satchel and sword were lying on the ground by the bed and his wings hanged loosely at his sides instead of wrapped close to his body like they usually did.

It was very surreal and Marigold just stood there staring for a moment, until Walter’s head jerked up, obviously picking up on her scent.

Jim frowned, “Wha-.” He turned around and his eyes widened at the sight of Marigold dithering at the doorway.

His dad turned his head, catching Jim’s eyes and meaningfully tilting his head to his sister, Jim immediately understood.

This was the first time Marigold and Walter could talk to each other alone since the barn disaster, once he was gone that is.

Quickly screwing on the lid of the oil and playfully scratching Walter in-between the horns, Jim got up and darted out of the room, shutting the door behind him with a soft click.

The two siblings stared at each other awkwardly, Walter fully turning around to face his sister, keeping his wings out so the oil could sink in properly.

“I didn’t think you’d enslave your son to massage you.” Marigold said, it was meant to be a light comment but it ended up sounding positively frosty.

Walter gave her a slightly pained expression at the obvious hostility before stating calmly, “Young Atlas being Young Atlas took matters into his own hands and insisted when he saw how rough my skin was.”

Marigold blinked, “What do you mean? You’re made of stone, how can your skin not be rough!?”

Walter huffed in exasperation, “Come here.” He said gruffly, annoyed at this forms inability to talk softly.

Marigold froze, unsure if he was demanding her to do so or not. It gave her a fearful flashback of Andrew saying the same thing to her and when she hadn’t- 

Marigold closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in, she wouldn’t think like this about Walter. He had never hurt her and she knew he still wouldn’t deep down but seeing him like this was confusing.

Opening her eyes slowly she found a pair of anxious yellow ones staring at her carefully, “Please don’t be scared of me Marigold.” He said.

“I’m not.” She replied defensively, boldly walking over to Walter and sitting down right next to him, “Were you going to tell me something?”

Walter had been about to show her how smooth his skin actually was but there was something else he had to show, hopefully something that would remind her he was still the same under his stone skin and he would always have her back.

He stretched out his left arm, tilting it so Marigold could see and she gasped softly.

A scar, jagged and shaped like a crescent, shone out against the jade green of his skin, Marigold remembered how he had gotten it, from a rabid dog that had been about to attack her when they had been children.

“Marigold you’re my sister, you know I will protect you no matter what.” He said seriously.

She hesitated, gazing into Walter’s eyes before slowly reaching out a finger to gently trace the scar, his skin wasn’t rough, it was surprisingly smooth and still gave under her touch slightly, but was definitely not fleshy.

She raised her eyes sheepishly, meeting Walter’s expectant gaze with as much confidence as she could muster, “I thought that somehow you being so different outwardly you would be different inwardly too and you also look so rough and wild and I can’t read your face. It’s like you’re a stranger.” She explained, lamely waving her hands at her brother.

“Seriously? You think because of all this I will suddenly have a complete change of personality as well?” Walter asked incredulously.

The scepticism was completely understandable and Marigold absently twisted her wedding ring, muttering a small no under her breath, feeling her eyes prickle with tears.

She rubbed at her eyes furiously and felt Walter hesitantly draw her against his chest, “It’s okay to cry, god knows I’ve done a lot of it in the last few months.”

She sniffed, “That makes me feel I bit better.” 

Walter let out a chocked laugh at the feeble attempt at a joke.

“You’re absolutely terrible, here I am trying to comfort you and your response is to laugh at my misery.”

Marigold couldn’t help it, one look at Walter’s pouting face and she was laughing uncontrollably, her laughter quickly turning into quiet sobs against Walter’s bare chest as she finally let out her frustration and confusion about the last few days.

To try and comfort her, Walter coaxed out a deep, rumbly purr that Marigold felt rather than heard, she rested, sniffing slightly.

He doesn’t know how long they stay like that for, only that for a few minutes all is blissfully silent. Although it doesn’t take that long before Marigold asks something unexpected.

“Walt?” she asked hesitantly.

“Yes?” he replied, one ear twitching nervously, wondering what his sister was going to ask this time.

“Have you ever.. no it’s silly! Never mind!” Marigold said quickly.

“What? Tell me, I’m interested now.” Walter replied, raising a brow expectantly.

“Have you hunted any animals and eaten them? I know that’s a weird thing to ask but I was wondering for a while now especially since you’re, you know, not human any more and more... er...” Marigold didn’t know how to make that sound any worse and trailed off wincing at her own stupidity.

Walter wasn’t sure what to say, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Marigold may have seen him catch a pheasant yesterday at the edge of the forest. He had been really proud of catching something, especially something that could fly, and it was the second time he had successfully caught an animal and he had to admit it, at least to himself, that it had been delicious.

“Yes I have, just don’t tell father I’ve eaten one of his prized pheasants he’d probably never forgive me. Even though it practically walked into my talons and we didn’t even get to eat anything decent the whole day!”   
Walter said, slightly defensively.

He hadn’t really meant to do it, it had been one of those instinctive moments were his Trollish side had taken over, also he had already been hungry while still human so he supposed that hadn’t helped much.

“Oh. My. God. You really did that? You know what, I think father can suffer the loss of one bird.” Marigold said slowly, offering a soft smile to Walter, who had lowered his head in shame.

He looked up at her uncertainly, “You don’t mind?”

Marigold grimaced, “I wouldn’t go that far, but I have to accept you, with all your odd troll quirks.”

Walter grinned and wrapped his wings around her in a loose hug, Marigold relaxing fully against him for the first time since finding out about his new form.   
They stayed like that for a while, just taking comfort in each others presence.

 

Walter was shaken out of his memory by a heavy raindrop landing right in his eye.

He cursed under his breath, wobbling in the air as suddenly the heavens opened up and a downpour of rain slammed into him, taking his breath away for a moment.

Walter risked a look up at the sky, just in time to see a burst of lightning shoot down and hit a tall tree in the forest, the fire burning out almost immediately under the deluge of heavy rainfall.

“Just great!” Walter muttered, he couldn’t see a thing! 

To his surprise he felt something slide over his eyes and clear the rain from them, he had nictitating membranes! Really he shouldn’t be surprised at his bodies adaptations, many animals had this third eyelid after all.

But it was still weird, being able to see completely clearly while it was pouring down with rain, it was like he was wearing goggles almost.

It was time to go home, the rain was too heavy to properly enjoy his flight and he didn’t fancy getting hit by lightning, banking around smoothly he began flying quickly back home.

Even with his clear sight thanks to his nictitating membranes Walter still almost flew into the roof of the farm house, he swivelled away from the roof, cursing the stupid, unpredictable English weather and made for the ground and the shelter of the porch, which was currently occupied, unbeknownst to the changeling.

 

Barbara blearily opened her eyes, pushing the blanket half covering her face aside to see that Walter was no longer with her, and hadn’t been for a while based on how flat his side of the bed was.

A couple of months ago she would have been working herself up with crazy thoughts about Walter being in danger and start to panic, in case something had happened to him, but now she knew that Walter was perfectly capable looking after himself.

She glanced at the window with a small frown, more than likely her husband had gone for a flight and Barbara knew she wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep.

Grumbling under her breath she stumbled out of bed, snagged her glasses and managed not to trip down the stairs and wake everyone up.

She glanced behind her, startled at the creak she had heard from outside and almost ran into Elizabeth, who was holding a cup of hot chocolate and had just stepped out of the kitchen.

“Oh! Sorry!” she yelped, almost tripping over Shadow, who had suddenly appeared behind her. The dog barked and then trotted out onto the porch with a wag of his tail.

Elizabeth chuckled, “Its alright my dear, care to join me? I was just about to go out on the porch, cosy up near the fire and watch the rain, but I could use some company that is not complaining all the time.”

Barbara sighed, “You know what? That sounds fantastic. I could really use a warm drink and some company, especially since Walt's gone off.”

Elizabeth wasn’t ready for such a statement and almost dropped her cup, while Barbara shuffled around getting her own cup of hot chocolate, one of the only things she could make without it tasting disgusting.

“What do you mean Walter is not here?” Elizabeth asked worriedly.

Barbara winced, having forgotten that while beginning to feel unworried by Walter’s late night ventures his mother didn’t even know about them.

“Oh, he does that sometimes. Going out for a flight or going to troll market.” Barbara said with a shrug, sipping her hot chocolate with a sigh.

Elizabeth frowned, “How are you alright with that when those beasts are lurking about your town? It’s not safe!”

Barbara could sympathize with Elizabeth's worry but it was unneeded, “Walter isn’t human, trust me he can look after himself.”

The older woman shook her head in dismay, “He is human though! What outwardly changes doesn’t change what is inside.”

Barbara sighed, “That’s true but only partially, I’ve seen changes in his behaviour while human too, he’s more protective but also quicker to anger and stronger and faster than anyone I know even in human form.”

“I see. This will take some time to get used to. Let’s sit outside, I could use the fresh air.” Elizabeth said abruptly and made her way purposefully outside, Barbara trailing reluctantly behind her.

The fire was large and warm in the fireplace next to the bench that was covered in cosy blankets, Shadow calmly sitting next to the fiery blaze, the dog gave a welcoming pant of greeting to the two women before once more gazing out at the rain.

They settled themselves down, the porch keeping the rain away and the fire keeping them warm and sat for a while in companionable silence.

Until it was broken by the sudden appearance of a black shape coming out of the cloud cover and heavily thudding down on the grassy earth a few metres away from them.

The black shape shook itself and stood up, shaking out large bat like wings and scowling up at the sky. It was Walter but Elizabeth couldn’t help feeling momentary awe, her son really could fly!

His faintly glowing eyes seemed to spot Elizabeth and Barbara sitting under the porch as his face brightened and he began striding purposefully towards them.

Within a few short strides Walter reached the porch, close enough to just about be protected from the rain, water dripping into a small puddle at his feet.

He was absolutely soaked and seeming to realise this Walter shook himself violently, droplets of water flying around in all directions, mixed with yellow and blue flecks of the paint on his body.

After such vigorous shaking his hair had decided to stand on end, puffed up and bristling, the changeling raked it down so that it lay slicked back with a huff of annoyance, which turned into a low growl when a few long strands refused to lie flat.

Elizabeth froze, for a second, staring into Walter’s yellow, slitted eyes, she had seen something ancient and primal in their depths, that spoke of the wild and mysterious nature of something not human in the slightest.

And then that moment was abruptly broken by Walter exclaiming with a shake of his head, “Stupid, bloody English weather can’t cooperate for one goddamn hour!”

Barbara snorted, “You didn’t have to go outside.” She pointed out, raising a eyebrow at him.

Walter huffed, “And do you really want a restless troll inside?” he countered.

“Alright, that’s fair enough.” Barbara conceded.

“How did you learn how to fly?” Elizabeth interjected, her curiosity finally overcoming her silence, she gestured Walter to come and sit down next to her offhandedly.

Hesitating a moment, Walter obediently sat next to his mother, curling his wings close to his body so that he didn’t take up too much space.

Shadow whined, pawing at his leg and he absently gave the dog a scratch in-between the ears.

“I didn’t exactly learn how to fly, it was the sort of situation where if I hadn’t I would probably have broken bones or fractured something.” He answered vaguely.

Elizabeth frowned but decided against asking for further details, Walter would tell her in his own time, she just had to be patient.

“I think this will take some time getting used to, darling.” She settled for saying fondly, reaching over and gently rubbing one of his horns.

Walter sighed and leaned into the touch, gazing down at his mother in amusement, “You know I really thought you would have more qualms about me being...well this.” He gestured to his horns and wings.

Elizabeth raised both eyebrows, “Why on earth would I care? You’re still human as far as I’m concerned, just a bit changed outwardly.” She said dryly. 

Walter scoffed, and Barbara spoke up quietly, “Walt you’re still the same person, enough that even Shadow recognised you.”

“That is true.” He admitted. 

Elizabeth watched Walter carefully, how relaxed he seemed to be, with his ears pricked and alert and his golden eyes lazily half lidded and she smiled softly.  
It wasn’t so hard to believe that her son was still under all that, she had feared she would never see Walter as Walter while in troll form, but that fear was unnecessary.

Her son caught her staring and wrinkled his nose at her, “What?” he asked, raising a eye ridge in bemusement at the strange expression on his mother’s face.

“Nothing, I was just admiring the rain.” She replied nonchalantly.

Walter rolled his eyes and raised one wing, watching the rain slide off the appendage in absent fascination. It was amazing how something as small as a rain drop could, when grouped together, be powerful enough to flatten the ground.

Nature was in general stronger then humans gave it credit for.

His mother hugged him tightly and Walter rested his head on hers. In the silence that followed Walter reflected on his new state of being, absently wondering if in some alternate universe he had remained human. He really couldn’t imagine being anything else now, he felt... complete.

 

His mother left them after ten minutes for the warmth of the house with Shadow, she had said her bones were getting cold and Walter had firmly asked her to go inside in case she got a cold.

So now it was just him and Barbara.

Barbara sighed and slid over to Walter, who raised one wing so that she was snuggly wrapped up in the leathery membranes.

“You know,” Barbara started, “At the start of all this it was so scary and confusing. But I always remembered one thing about you Walt, you always loved me, in my good times and my bad- always. And I knew I could never stop loving you, no matter what I’m here for you.”

Walter blinked, “Where did that come from all of a sudden?” he rasped in bewilderment.

Barbara rolled her eyes, “Can’t I have philosophical moments, you always are saying ridiculous things.”

Walter tilted his head down to look into her eyes, “Fine, that was the most soppy thing you’ve ever said.”

Barbara couldn’t help but laugh, leaning comfortably against his side. Walter stretched out, flexing his claws and taking delight in just... Being alive.

He felt Barbara gently trace the gem imbedded in his chest and he shivered. If he hadn’t ran into Bular that night at that moment, he would never have become a changeling.

Barbara leaned up and whispered against his ear, “I love you.”

“As do I, forever and ever.” Walter declared, eyes gleaming.

And he leaned down and kissed her hard, breathing her scent in. He curled his claws in her hair pressing her warm body against his.

He could stay in this moment forever. There was no beginning, middle or end.

Just the here and now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter before I start writing events that take place in the canon timeline, hope you enjoy!


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jim starts high school and Walter is given a gift and a fight with the Trollhunter leads to a shocking discovery.

The next few years fly by, metaphorically speaking of course, and Walter begins to get comfortable in his new life as a changeling.

There are some bumps and dips and some excitement, but things always settle. Even Jim starting high school wasn’t as much of a big deal as his son thought it would be.

He had known Jim would be nervous so had decided to take him to the school early so Jim could be more relaxed when lessons started. He had just buckled his seat belt and been about to start the car when the back door opened and Toby flung himself inside with an unnecessary amount of panting and groaning.

Jim turned around to look back at his best friend, eyes wide, “Tobes, what are you doing?”

Toby slumped down across the seat, “Coming with you guys, duh.” Walter narrowed his eyes at the unwelcome boy in his backseat, he had wanted Jim to be prepared for high school and his first day to go as smoothly as possible but that courtesy didn’t extend to Toby.

“Tobias, please get out of my car, you can go to school the same time as everyone else.” Walter said sternly.

Toby grimaced and shot a desperate look at Jim, “Come on! Jim’s getting special treatment, why not me too? I practically live in your house Strickler!” 

Walter flashed his eyes in annoyance, his pupils narrowing to thin red slits, “I’m afraid that will be 'Mr' Strickler while we’re in school.”

Toby’s jaw dropped, but before he could say something to get him kicked out of the car Jim said quickly, “Dad! Just let him come, please?”

Walter growled and then started up the car reluctantly, “Fine.” He grumbled, trying not to glare at the triumphant teen in the back.

 

The two boys quietened down once they entered the school building, both of them glancing around curiously, Toby whistled softly, “So, this is high school then. Are you going to give us a tour?”

This was clearly addressed to Walter, who nodded in acceptance, shrugging his shoulders casually he stated, “I don’t see why not.”

“Okay then. On with the tour!” Toby yelled, throwing his arms in the air with a flourish. Jim and Walter both signed, this was going to be a long day.

 

In the half an hour they had Walter managed to show the two boys the majority of Arcadia Oaks High School, without bumping into the other teachers thankfully. He really didn’t want to talk to his fellow staff right now, especially with Jim and Toby with him. So he led Jim and Toby to his classroom, ten minutes before school officially started.

Toby immediately began exploring the room and somehow found the register amongst the pile of papers on Walter’s desk. “Oohh, Jimbo I think this is our class for homeroom!” The ginger haired teen waved the paper in the air excitedly, until Jim came over curiously.

Walter sighed, but also came over, curious about who would be in his class. Toby skimmed over the list, “Ok. So we’ve got me, you, some girls, some boys, oh great, Steve! And, oh my gosh Jim, Claire Nuñez is in our class!” he exclaimed.

Jim’s eyes brightened, he had a long time crush on the girl since he had first seen her in the fourth year of primary school. Although Walter knew it would be a while before his son finally had the courage to approach the girl. But he would get there.

In dribs and drabs the other students began arriving, and Walter made sure that the teenagers were sat next to people he thought they wouldn’t continuously talk to. 

He still allowed Toby and Jim to sit near each other, though against his better judgement.

Soon everyone had arrived and settled, including Claire, introductions were made and Walter started the register.

Although when Toby’s name was called the boy couldn’t stop being obnoxious and replyed snidely, “Sup Strickler.”

The whole class sniggered but Walter was unfazed and smoothly responded, “I’m sure your Nana would love to hear her 'Toby pie' got a detention the first day, hmm?” Toby’s face went red as everyone in the room burst out laughing. Someone at the back of the class remarked, “That suits you, chubby.”

Toby pretended to ignore that comment, glaring heatedly at Walter, as the teacher cleared his throat and quietened the class almost immediately, having gained some respect by putting Toby in his place.

Once the teenagers settled down Walter reassumed the register, when he finally reached Jim’s name his son froze, gave a small groan and then said with heavy reluctance, “Here...Dad.”

There was a awkward silence, followed by some curious whispers and titters of laughter, and then Steve said, “Well, so what? We all have parents buttsnack.” 

Some people at the back snorted, but were stopped from laughing by the look on Walter’s face, “That was remarkably mature of you Mr Palcuck, but do keep in mind name calling is unacceptable regardless of who it is, do I make myself clear?”

Steve gulped, “Crystal clear sir.” After that the class calmed down, there was some teasing about Jim’s dad being their teacher but the children were surprisingly understanding overall. Also Jim had to admit this wasn’t nearly as bad as he had thought it would be, which was certainly a relief to hear.

Life settled down and Walter’s routine became being human for the majority of the day and at night being a Troll and going to Trollmarket. It wasn’t every night, but it was very regular and allowed him to continue to learn Trollish history and fighting skills under Kanjigar.

Even Draal began to warm up to him after he trained with the changeling and found him different from the other impures he had faced.

And Walter found he greatly preferred knives over swords and could now wield them with surprising accuracy and precision, to the point that Kanjigar surprised him with a gift a couple of months after Jim started high school.

By now Kanjigar had finally accepted him and much to the surprise of the Trollhunter, considered the changeling a friend, although he would never admit it to Stricklander.

The gift had been left in a rough parcel in the place were Walter usually came to read and the note attached simply said, “Stricklander," but he could see it was in the Trollhunters writing.

Suspicious, Walter cut through the twine holding the package together and couldn’t help but gasp at what lay inside.

A rich, dark brown cloak made of supple leather with a collar bristling with finely made feathery knives.

Wide eyed he grasped the cloak carefully and shook it out, holding it up in awe.

It was his exact measurements, the only thing was how on earth could he wear it with his wings in the way?

Frustrated, he bundled the cloak carefully under his arms and stalked towards Vendel's sanctum, knowing the elder of Trollmarket could probably help him with his vast knowledge of magic.

 

“I would have thought you would have figured it out by now, Stricklander.” Vendel said in surprise when Walter asked about how he could wear his cloak without his wings getting in his way.

The elder was amused that the bright human-turned-changeling hadn’t tried manipulating changes to see what could and couldn’t appear in his troll form.

Stricklander raised a sceptical eye ridge at Vendel’s statement and the old troll sighed, “Think about how you change forms, you have to feel how it’s like to be human to change back so if you visually see your troll form but without wings that should manifest when you change.”

Walter twitched his wings nervously, they had become a cherished part of his life and the thought of being without them in this form was unsettling.

“They will come back if I want them too, right?” he knew it was a stupid question the moment h said it, based on the stare Vendel gave him.

Growling softly, Walter took a deep breath and reverted back to human form and barely a second after he pictured his troll form without wings and changed again to troll form.

Immediately he felt the absence of his wings and shivered, too shocked to do anything for a moment. Vendel smiled, “This should make fighting more... Manageable for you and make walking around my market without disrupting trolls with a wing to face no longer a problem.”

Walter snorted, “ That hasn’t happened for weeks.” He grumbled, rubbing his arms self consciously, uneasy without anything protecting his back. Which was ridiculous considering he didn’t have wings or a cloak in his human form.

Still muttering under his breath he shook out his new cloak and threw it over his shoulders, clasping it in place over his chest to secure it there.

Walter was surprised at how insulating and comfortable the cloak was, he twitched his shoulders, feeling the cool weight of the blades resting against his neck bristling upright. He gave a small laugh and reached up and plucked two feather knives out of their slots, fingering them and admiring their smooth edges and the slight engravings on each side of the small blades.

Experimentally he flicked the two knives with precision at the top shelf of Vendel’s assorted potions, the blades slicing through the air. These knives were fast and sharp, nothing like the simple ones Walter usually practised with, this was truly an incredibly expensive gift to give to a changeling, Walter vowed to thank the Trollhunter profoundly the next time he saw him.

The elder glowered sourly at the delighted changeling, “If you are quite done Stricklander please stop ransacking my sanctum and go use your knives somewhere else.” 

Walter grinned sheepishly, “I think I’ll go home now.”

Vendel sighed, rolling his eyes heavenwards. This changeling really was something else. 

 

Barbara was watching the back garden, leaning against the door frame, her arms loosely crossed. They hadn’t bothered getting a new door since that fateful day almost two years ago and she was expecting Walter to be home soon. She sighed, gazing up at the sky just as a shooting star passed by, her sigh quickly turned into a gasp as a pair of yellow eyes materialized out of the dark, her breath caught in her throat when she realised the figure didn’t have wings. 

Instead a long cloak with a mantel of razor sharp knives that gleamed even in the dark. 

She stumbled back into the house, quickly grabbing the broom that always leant against the wall near the door frame. “”S-stay back! I have a orange belt in Krav Maga!” she shouted.

Walter blinked, that wasn’t exactly an unexpected reaction to him, considering he forgot to take his wings out and still had on his cloak.

He gave a throaty chuckle at Barbara’s statement, “It’s only me.” He said softly, stepping into the house.

Barbara’s jaw dropped, her grip on the broom slackening as she took in the familiar form of her husband, minus his wings. “Walt? What happened- where are your wings?!” she stuttered in amazement.

Walter grinned, running his claws against the blades at his neck with a bashful glance at the floor. “Turns out there’s still some things I don’t know about my biology.” He smiled, meeting her eyes with one brow raised.

Barbara relaxed slightly, questions already bubbling in her mind at this latest discovery of Walter somehow able to hide his wings. 

She dropped the broom and hugged Walter tightly, his firm stone body as familiar to her as his human one, making sure not to scratch herself on his knife collar. “Don’t scare me like that, I thought you were something else. And where did you get this from?” Barbara exclaimed, tugging one side of the cloak to pull Walter closer to her. 

The changelings eyes lit up, “Kanjigar gave it to me.”

Barbara’s eyebrows rose in surprise, “No way.” She said.

“I know it’s hard to believe but it is true. Although at this point I think nothing can surprise me.”

How he would regret those words less than a year later. 

_Present day..._

Walter sighed, he had stayed the night with Blinky and Aaarrrgghh as he had accidently fallen asleep while reading a Trollish history book, although Blinky had rung up Barbara to tell her Walter would be staying in Trollmarket so she wouldn’t panic.

Even if now and again the changeling did stay over in Trollmarket Barbara always wanted to know.

Right now Walter was heading out of Trollmarket to get to school, flying above the troll inhabitants, eager to get above the surface. Until he saw Kanjigar heading the same way purposefully, when sunrise couldn’t be more than five minutes away.

Frowning, he dived in front of the Trollhunter, thudding on the ground and blocking his path to the crystal staircase, “Absolutely not.” He growled.

Kanjigar narrowed his eyes, “It is my responsibility to ensure the safety of our home. You cannot stop me Stricklander.”

He summoned Daylight to hand, prepared to defend against a possible attack, the changeling knew all his weak points and wouldn’t be easy to subdue, but Stricklander relaxed, arms up in defeat. “Fine, have it your way. But I’m going with you, I was anyway about to leave.” Walter said firmly.

Kanjigar sighed, “Alright.”

They made their way up the staircase, Walter staying next to the Trollhunter, wings still out as he wouldn’t be climbing up the bridge when he could fly up. Within a minute they where in the struts of the bridge, both scanning the place for any sign of goblin nests, as the pests liked to nest near trolls.

Walter causously sniffed the air, hoping he wouldn’t have to deal with killing goblins, it was a messy business he would rather avoid.

He took a step across one of the beams, “It looks clear Kanji-,” he didn’t get to finish his sentence, as Kanjigar rammed into him, causing the changeling to slam awkwardly into one of the upright beams.

Kanjigar snarled, “Bular!” Walter's blood ran cold as with a sneer the Gumm- Gumm prince came into view, his red eyes fixed on him. Walter scrambled up, rubbing his head, eyes wide in horror at the presence of the black troll.

“You would save an impure? What has become of you Trollhunter, consorting with your enemies.” Bular growled incredulously.

Kanjigar ignored the Gumm-Gumm and said coolly to Walter, “Get out of here.”

Walter took a step forward, “I can help-,”

“You will only get in the way, impure, I said go!” Kanjigar yelled. Walter blinked, the Trollhunter hadn’t called him that slur in years, he must really want him to leave. He hesitated, conflicted between escaping or helping and in that moment Bular attacked, driving Kanjigar back forcefully to the edge of the bridge with a snarl.

Walter didn’t even think, he leapt forward, two knives materialising in his hands as he stabbed the Gumm-Gumm in the back, holding on for dear life as Bular roared, stumbling backwards at the sudden weight on top of him.

Which gave Kanjigar the chance to score a blow with Daylight in Bular's chest. Bular roared again and reached a clawed hand behind him, snagging Walter's scruff and throwing him across the bridge, the knives still embedded in his back.

Walter landed on his feet, flaring his wings for balance, as Kanjigar darted around the black troll, wincing as his heel briefly edged into the sun.

He was running out of time. 

Bular spat at Kanjigar, “I will kill you both and tear your bodies to pieces! Starting with your pet impure Trollhunter!” 

The changeling froze, eyes meeting Kanjigar's, the Trollhunter glanced at a patch of sunlight off to his right and Walter breathed a sigh of relief, he could make that easily.

Bular stalked forward, tusks bared, “Ready to die, impure?” With a sharp scratching sound of metal on metal he unslung his infamous double swords.

Walter grinned, “Its a shame you can’t survive in sunlight.”

Bular snorted, “By all means go ahead and die, you cannot survive the sun in troll form you-,” Before Bular had a chance to finish whatever insult he had in mind Kanjigar lunged forward and swiped the dark princes legs out from under him, Bular thudding down heavily.

Allowing Walter to quickly fly over Bular’s head and straight into the waiting patch of sunlight Kanjigar had pointed out.

Bular’s jaw dropped, “Impossible!”

Kanjigar pointed Daylight at Bular’s throat, “Anything is possible, yield Bular!”

The black troll scoffed, “Never!” And swiped his tail into the Trollhunter's legs, causing him to stumble back, eyes wide as Bular rammed his horns into Kanjigar's chest, knocking him off his feet.

Now it was Bular standing over the Trollhunter. Leering, Bular grasped Kanjigar’s head and forced it into the sunlight, laughing as the Trollhunter howled, half of his face turning slate grey with contact, every nerve in his body on fire at the intense pain. 

Walter snarled desperately, feeling utterly useless, what could he do? He took a step forward, prepared to do whatever it took to stop Bular but Kanjigar’s next move made any further action pointless. 

Bular smirked, knowing he had finally bested the Trollhunter, he leaned back on his haunches, “Yield Kanjigar, it’s over now. Hand me the amulet.”

Kanjigar groaned, planting his feet he struggled upright, glancing behind him.

And an idea came to him, steely determination lighting up his eyes. It was the only way to ensure the amulet didn’t fall into the wrong hands, Stricklander would be able to get a hold of the amulet immediately. He was dead either way, so it wasn’t a hard choice to make.

“You are wrong. I may end, but the fight will go on without me, the amulet will always choose another champion.” Kanjigar briefly met the yellow eyes of the changeling he now considered a friend and saw the realisation in his eyes.

“No!” Stricklander cried out, but Kanjigar only smiled and closed his eyes, praying the amulet would chose anyone else but his son. With that last thought, he folded his arms over his chest and took a step backwards, Bular trying and failing to grasp him. 

And so Kanjigar the courageous fell.

Bular snatching his hand away from the sunlight as it burned him, a roar full of pain and anger erupting from his throat at his failure at retrieving the amulet. Kanjigar’s body shattering on contact with the canal bed.

And Bular could only watch in helpless fury as with a few deft strokes of his wings the changeling dived over the struts of the bridge to where the Trollhunters body lay in pieces and would recover the amulet.

Bular snarled and spitted contemptuously at the changelings escape, reluctantly he turned away and made his way deeper into the surrounding shadows, away from the encroaching sunlight where he could fantasize about ripping that impure to pieces.

 

Walter knelt by the Trollhunters remains, too shocked to do anything, to think anything, too shocked to even change forms in case someone saw him.

He rubbed away a spot of blood on his cheek absently, resting one hand on a piece of Kanjigar's body sadly. “You weren’t meant to die,” he muttered.

_**"Stricklander."** _

Walter jumped at the sound of the disembodied voice, wings flinging wide open in alarm, “Who’s there?” he demanded, changing back to his human form and narrowly scanning his surroundings to find nothing there.

The voice spoke again, it was familiar, it almost sounded like Kanjigar’s remains were speaking to him.

And then the voice said;  _ **"Walter Stricklander."**_

That had definitely come from the pile of rubble that had been Kanjigar. 

Dread filling him, he reached over and delicately moved away some parts of the Trollhunter, shuddering at the contact. This wasn’t feeling very respectful, rummaging through a dead body.

And then a flash of blue caught his eyes, removing another piece of dead stone flesh the amulet lay revealed, flashing up at him mysteriously.

The voice pulsed out from the amulet again,  _ **"Walter Strickler."**_

His eyes widened, face paling in disbelief.

The amulet of Merlin had chosen it’s next champion.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't exactly fully in canon events but was more of a introduction into the canon timeline, so next chapter will fully be involved in the canon universe!!  
> Thanks for reading this far, please leave a comment or kudo, it's much appreciated!


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter deals with the amulet choosing him and has a run in with Bular on the way to Trollmarket, while Jim and Toby make a rash choice.

Throughout the day Walter was distracted, Kanjigar’s unexpected death, coupled with the amulet choosing him of all people as it’s champion, left him dazed and of course all his classes decided to act up, as if sensing his distraction.

He was so distracted he didn’t even notice Jim and Toby continuously exchange worried looks, as since Walter had driven them to school he had been acting weird and distant.

Walter didn’t even notice when the final bell rang and was surprised when suddenly the class was empty and he hadn’t even heard Jim say goodbye to him.

Groaning softly, Walter got up from his seat and made his way slowly to his office, locking the door behind him with a heavy sigh. He leaned against the door, withdrawing the amulet and staring at it in disbelief.

He shook his head slowly, “Why did you do this to me?” he whispered to it and then scoffed in disgust, he was bloody talking to a inanimate object!

He took a deep breath, stifling his racing thoughts about how he shouldn’t even be thinking about donning Kanjigar’s armour when he had just died this morning.

He took a step away from the door and changed forms, his eyes never leaving the amulet nestled in his claws.

Yellow eyes wide and nervous Walter whispered the incantation he had heard Kanjigar say so many times before but never realising he would one day say it himself.  
“For the glory of Merlin Daylight is... Mine to command.”

Heart racing, Walter watched in awe as blue orbs floated out of the amulet and surrounded his body in magical light.  
There was a soft hum and his feet left the ground without so much as a twitch from his wings, objects around his office floating into the air.

The armour materialized around his body, still in Kanjigar’s size and then shrunk until it hugged his body like a second skin.

The magic that had been holding him aloft dispatted and the objects around him that had been floating clattered down, himself included.

Walter almost fell, the weight of the armour causing him to stumble around for a few seconds, the armour clanking with every step, until he managed to catch himself on the corner of his desk.

Wings shaking he looked down at his now gauntleted hands, they weren’t like Kanjigar’s.

These gauntlets ended in razor sharp metallic claws, experimentally he flexed his hands so that his talons shot out of their sheaths and suddenly he had double talons, all covered in the same metal covering.  
“Strange.” He frowned, fanning out his wings awkwardly as he adjusted to the weight of the armour.

He froze when he realised something.

His wings were glowing.

They too were covered in silvery metallic material but the added layer of protection was so insubstantial he couldn’t even feel it.

Dazed, he causously felt his head, the half helm was present and so were his feather knives. Blinking in surprise he took out one knife, the weight and shape very familiar in his hands.

Puzzled he stared at his knife, which was now a bluish-grey colour, where was Daylight?

As if the armour had heard him, the knife blurred and then consolidated into a point of light in his hand, stretching until he was holding the famous weapon of the Trollhunter.

Walter paled, he was so unbelievably  _screwed._

 

 

When he got home, Barbara managed to tell him Jim was around Toby’s for a sleepover before realising something was very wrong.

“Walt? Are you alright? You look a bit pale.” She rested her hand on his forehead and was surprised when she felt the sweat damping his brow.

“Barbara... Something happened.” He said, gently clasping her hands in his, green eyes wide and serious.

Feeling his agitation Barbara asked carefully, “What happened?”

“Kanjigar...he was felled. And-and I was chosen as the amulet’s next champion.” He rasped out painfully.

Barbara’s face drained of colour and she swayed slightly, looking as if she might faint. Worried, Walter steadied her with his hands.  
Barbara shook her head, tears already welling in her eyes. Kanjigar had gotten to the stage where his curiosity had overwhelmed him and he had finally visited their house, wanting to see the human dwelling Blinky and Aaarrrgghh talked about with such high regard.

His initial loftiness of humans in general quickly gave way to warmth as he got to know Barbara, Jim and Toby. After that he became a regular visitor and every few weeks would drop by.

It was shocking that Kanjigar was dead, it was even more shocking that Walter had been forced into the old Trollhunters role. She had learnt from Kanjigar about how once the amulet chose it’s champion it was with them until death. 

Or until Bular inevitably killed them which was much more likely. She immediately forced herself away from the dark thoughts, she couldn’t think about something so depressing.

Instead she gestured to Walter, “Can you...summon the armour?” she asked, half hoping this was some joke and this wasn’t really happening.

Walter bowed his head and closing his eyes concentrated for all he was worth.

He opened his eyes to see the armour was back again, the claws on the gauntlets still present but his half helm and feather knives were not there any more.

Awkwardly he shifted from foot to foot, “Ta-da?” he joked weakly as Barbara gasped, coming closer to tentatively place her hand on the cool metal of his chest plate.

“Wow. This is...” She shook her head mutely at loss for words, “I can’t believe Kanjigar is gone.”

Walter gently tucked a strand of hair behind Barbara’s ear, being careful not to scratch her with his clawed gauntlets.

“Well he is and now I’m the Trollhunter-what if-.” Walter cut himself off, too scared to even think about the possibility of death let alone say it.

Barbara kissed him, her hands twining in his hair, she moved away slowly, holding his eyes firmly, “Don’t. Walter, we’ll get through this. Although I think we should hold off telling Jim and Toby for now, I don’t want them to be afraid or scared.”

Walter sighed, “My dear we will have to tell them eventually, if we don’t they will find out for themselves.”

Barbara bit her lip, “ We’ll tell them tomorrow night.”

Walter nodded in acceptance, swallowing nervously.

“It will be alright.” She said, softly placing her hand on the silvery metal covering Walter’s arm.

Walter wasn’t convinced.

 

And then Blinky and Aaarrrgghh arrived, the scholarly troll puffing and panting, “Master Walter! So it is true, you are the next Trollhunter!” all six of his eyes were filled with sorrow as he said it, Aaarrrgghh hummed when he saw the armour gleaming on the changeling, the sight of a human wearing the Trollhunters armour still a unexpected sight.

“Blinky, no. Don’t call me 'Master'. I’m not higher than you I’m still... Me.” He slumped his shoulders, the armour clanging slightly.

“I can’t be the Trollhunter. I couldn’t even save Kanjigar from Bular. The amulet made a mistake. I don’t even want this! I have a family to care about not the whole of Trollmarket and Arcadia! And I’m scared.” Walter admitted.

Blinky hesitated, before coming over and resting his upper hands on Walter’s shoulders, he took a deep breath and was immediately shot down by Walter, “If you’re going to give me a grand speech about destiny and some other  _bulshigal_  I swear-.”  
Blinky growled and Walter shut his mouth, “Thank you.” Blinky huffed, “Destiny is no joke Master Walter, it is a gift.”

Walter grimaced at the use of 'Master’ again but wisely kept his mouth shut, allowing the scholar to continue.

“Some go their entire lives living existences of quiet desperation, never learning the truth. That what feels like a burden pushing down upon our shoulders is actually a sense of purpose that lifts us to greater heights!”

Blinky's voice rose in excitement as he spoke, eyes dancing fiercely, “Never forget that fear is but the precursor to Valour, that to strive and triumph in the face of danger is what it means to be a hero! Don’t think, become!”

Walter smiled, feeling warmth and courage seep into his heart at the stirring words.

Perhaps this was meant to be and if this truly was his destiny he would do his best to live up to the legacy  of those before him.  
He would do whatever it took to be worthy of the title Trollhunter.

 

 

“You wanted adventure Jimbo, so now do it!” Toby hissed.

The two boys stood under Arcadia bridge a day after their sleepover, which was spent planning their venture into Trollmarket.  
Currently it was late evening and the plan was to have a quick look around and then get out of there, without being spotted.

Toby going as far as to 'borrow' Walter’s spare horngazel that he kept in his office.  
Jim gulped, “My dad's going to find out you know!”

Toby scoffed, “Yeah so what?” and without further ado he snatched the horngazel out of his best friend’s hands and drew the arch in the stone.

Both of them oohing the aahing at the spiral crystal staircase when it came into view, “Whoa, dad’s description seriously does not do this place justice!” Jim exclaimed.

Toby grinned, “So are you now ready to check this place out?”

Jim’s eyes lit up, “Hell yeah!”

 

 

Walter hadn’t really thought Bular would be looking around for him yet but getting almost impaled while in flight confirmed it.

Luckily his troll reflexes saved him, even though he ended up crash landing on the tarmac in a tangle of limbs.

Walter panted, his eyes wide in horror at the towering Gumm-Gumm prince leering down at him.

As if sensing his fear the armour materialized around him as he stood up and Bular let out a booming laugh of incredulousness, “Pathetic! The amulet obviously made a mistake choosing an impure! I will have killed two Trollhunters in as many days!”

Walter took a small step back, almost tripping over himself as the uncomfortable weight of his armour unbalanced him, desperately he tried to dismiss it, the armour would make flying almost impossible!

But his fear made any attempt to get rid of the armour a hopeless endeavour.

Bular snorted and charged him, the changeling diving to the side to avoid being trampled, gasping, Walter attempted to summon Daylight and nothing happened.

“This can’t get any worse!” he muttered in exasperation, staring down at the amulet gleaming over his chest.

Bular roared, “Fight me, so I may tear your limbs apart one by one!”

Walter was slightly too slow to avoid the next attack and Bular’s horn knocked into his side, feeling increasingly frustrated about the amulet not listening to him.

Getting up, he took out some of the glowing knives that circled his neck, feeling relived he didn’t have to rely on Daylight, especially since it was currently unavailable.

He threw the knives  just as Bular almost rammed into him, his aim was true and the blades sunk into the Gumm-Gumm's jaw.

Bular bellowed, pawing at his face to try and dislodge the knives that burned just like Daylight, allowing the changeling to make his escape while the black prince was busy getting the knives out.

Once Bular was out of sight and Walter’s heart beat had returned to normal the armour decided to fade away. He stared at the amulet in disgust, “You could have done that sooner.” He grumbled, finally spreading his wings and getting back into the air to make his way to Trollmarket.

He only hoped that he could summon Daylight at will, he needed that sword if he was to have regular run ins with Bular. But he was sure that it was a temporary problem.

At least partly sure.

 

Walter hurriedly entered the troll city, only relaxing once the magical doorway had closed behind him. He wasn’t looking forward to telling Vendel he was the Trollhunter, and he was definitely not looking forward to telling Draal.

Sighing, he dropped down the crystal staircase, gliding into Trollmarket. By now the inhabitants of the glowing stone city had gotten used to his presence in the air, and just being here calmed him down.

Until a shrill, familiar, scream almost made Walter forget to beat his wings. Startled he gazed down, beating his wings hard to stay in the same position, trying to locate the sound.  
What he eventually spotted filled him equally with horror and anger.

Toby was dangling in the air, upside down, held up by none other than Draal, he scanned the crowd desperately, looking for his son. 

Jim was standing near Draal, nervously eyeing the unhappy trolls surrounding him.

Walter growled and impulsively spoke the incantation, “For the glory of Merlin Daylight is mine to command!” And then dived down and thudded to the ground, the armour forming around him and Daylight appearing in hand, much to his relief.

He pointed the sword at Draal, “Let the human go.” He snarled, trying and failing to ignore the shocked gasps and whispers from the surrounding trolls.

Draal dropped Toby roughly to the ground, eyes fixed on the blade pointed at him.  
“What. That is-. THE AMULET WAS MEANT TO BE MINE!” the spiky troll bellowed.

Toby whimpered from the floor,  hands covering his ears and eyes wide at the sight of the glowing armoured figure of the changeling.

Walter met Toby’s eyes and jerked his head back to where Jim was standing behind him, mouth hanging limply open in shock at the amulet pulsing over his father’s chest.

“Get over there.” Walter snarled when Toby didn’t move, lightly jabbing the chubby boy with the flat edge of Daylight, causing him to leap up and quickly stand next to Jim.

Toby gulped, he had never, _ever_ seen the changeling this angry before and he definitely didn’t have the fricking amulet of Daylight before. Which meant...

“My father was felled just yesterday and you dare use his sword to protect two fleshbags!? That amulet belongs to me and you cannot take it from me!” Draal boomed.

Walter shook his head, eyes dimming, he let go of the sword, watching it dissolve and feeling utterly spent as he gazed into Draal's  furious and pain filled eyes.

“Do you actually think I want this?” Walter asked quietly, “I have a family and I don’t want to leave them, if I could I would gladly give this cursed amulet to you. But I can’t. And I now have a duty to protect trolls and humans alike, so get out of my sight before I do something I will regret.”

For a second it seemed like Draal would attack him but instead the teal troll exhaled heavily, “I will come for you Stricklander, and I will flatten you.” He slammed his fists together in emphasis and then turned, pushing through the crowd of trolls and quickly disappearing from view.

Walter stared at the trolls loitering curiously around him, “Get out of here! I’ll deal with the humans.”

With a lot of muttering and sour glares at Jim and Toby the crowd cleared.

“Dad-.” Jim started in a whisper.

Walter gave a warning rumble, his lips curling back to display his tusks, “No. I don’t want to hear it. We're going to Vendel and you two better be silent.”

Toby opened his mouth and Walter spread his wings threateningly, the membranes gleaming silvery-blue. Both teens lowered their heads, and followed the changeling towards the heartstone.

When Walter strode into Vendel’s sanctum, in full armour the elders jaw actually dropped. Blinky and Aaarrrgghh stared at the angry changeling in utter bafflement. Blinky whispering softly to himself, “Oh dear.”

“Stricklander. So it is true. You have been chosen as our Trollhunter.” Vendel stated with a frown clasping his hands together gravely.

“Yes.” Walter sighed, stepping aside so that Jim and Toby could come inside.

Both boys couldn’t help but gasp in awe at the beauty of the heartstone, although their scents reeked with fear and shame.

Vendel wrinkled his nose in disgust, before shouting, “HUMANS IN TROLLMARKET! What are they doing here? And how have they gotten inside?”

Stricklander winced, “That’s exactly what I want to know,” he muttered before saying louder, “They didn’t come with me, if that was what you were worried about, but this is my son, Jim and his best friend, Tobias.”

Vendel blinked in surprise and ambled closer, poking Jim in the chest with his staff gently, “Foolish whelp, you dare to infringe on our territory when our kind has for centuries gone without the presence of humanity and the fact you came here when your father has sought to keep you out is irresponsible and disrespectful not to mention dangerous!”

Jim and Toby flinched, “Sorry Elder Vendel.” Jim apologized quietly, the goat like troll huffed, turning to Walter, “I suppose the amulet choosing you must have come to quite a shock.”

Walter sighed, blue light flashing as the armour disappeared, the amulet dropping into his claws heavily.

“Yes it was and now I just don’t know what to do. First Kanjigar dies, then this blasted thing chooses me and now Bular and Draal want me dead and my son thinks it’s a good idea going charging into Trollmarket!” he couldn’t help but give a small whimper at the pressure that was now upon him.

He felt Jim tentatively touch his arm in sympathy and Walter struggled not to respond, he was still furious at Jim’s reckless behaviour.

Vendel rubbed his beard, “Stricklander, I am afraid your whelps may not be allowed to leave-,”

“WHAT!” Walter, Jim, Blinky and Toby exclaimed at the same time with similar expressions of horror.

Vendel glared at them, “-BUT I will come up with a convincing cover story so they may enter Trollmarket. As long as you don’t invite any more fleshbags, otherwise I will kick you two out personally.”

Walter raised a brow ridge sceptically, “You would allow humans to come into Trollmarket?”

“Yes, I think if I can manage a changeling I can certainly deal with two human whelps. And it’s about time things changed around here, for too long trolls have hidden from humans, we could use a wake up call that it is possible for friendship to exist between our two species. Who knows? Perhaps you becoming the Trollhunter is a good omen. Someone with a foot in both worlds.”

And with that Vendel shuffled out of the inner sanctum, saying offhandedly, “Ill be back in a few minutes and then we must consult with the soothscryer.”

For a couple of seconds there was quiet as the two trolls, two boys and one changeling all gaped in shock at the elders words, before with a small shake of his head Walter rounded on the two boys.

“What. Were. You. Thinking?” he hissed softly.

Toby snorted, “We weren’t.” He gulped at the growl that rose from Walter’s throat.

Jim answered truthfully, “We wanted more excitement, so Toby stole your spare horngazel and once inside we hid in some trolls cart.”

Blinky tutted, “Of all the idiotic, stupid, brainless things you could have done!”

Walter nodded in agreement, “I’m very disappointed in you both, Barbara is going to throw an absolute fit when she hears about this. But I suppose with Vendel’s permission I won’t stop you joining me in Trollmarket.” He said with a long suffering sigh.

Jim and Toby brightened considerably, eagerly promising to behave themselves, eyes sparkling hopefully.

Walter smiled, “But I do want you to carry this with you, Young Atlas.” So saying, he unhooked the necklace he wore that held the magically shrunken form of Moonlight and handed it to Jim.

Who gaped up at him in confusion, “Wait. Really?”

Walter grinned tiredly, “I don’t need it any more and you know how to use it. I trust you will use it wisely.”

Jim smiled, gently taking the offered chain and running his fingers over the pendent sized sword that could become full size when taken off the chain.

“Thank you.” Jim said quickly, still staring at the small sword in awe.

Toby gazed at his best friend jealously, “Hey! Where’s my awesome weapon?”

Walter smirked, “You can stick to Aaarrrgghh.”

The Krubera smiled, giving Toby a large grin, “Wingman.” He rumbled.

Toby grinned back, giving his troll friend a fist bump, before nervously eyeing Walter, “Look, I’m sorry about the whole breaking into Trollmarket thing, and for dragging Jim with me.”

Walter snorted, but didn’t say anything as Toby continued by pointing out, “Although you didn’t tell us Kanjigar died, or that you’re the next freaking Trollhunter! Does Dr Lake know?”

Blinky responded before Walter could, gravely stating, “Barbara does indeed know. But Master Walter was planning on telling you two tonight anyway.”

Jim looked up hesitantly, “You’re not going to... Leave us, right?”

Walter gulped, exchanging a helpless look with Blinky and Aaarrrgghh, before carefully cupping his son's cheek in one cool stone hand, “I can’t promise that Young Atlas. But I will do everything in my power to stay.”

Jim sighed, leaning against Walter’s chest, “I guess that’s good enough for now.”

Walter wrapped his wings around Jim tightly, praying to God things would work out.

 

Vendel came back after another few minutes, slightly startled at the sight that met his eyes, troll, changeling and human all gathered in one big hug.

It was something a decade ago Vendel would have thought of as merely a dream, seeing this made his old stone heart fill with warmth.

He cleared his throat, “Stricklander, the soothscryer awaits.”

The changeling jumped, quickly untangling himself from the group hug and blinking up at the elder. “Oh. Yes, of course.”

Toby brightened, “Yes! Jimbo, we get to see the heroes forge!”

Vendel frowned, “How much have you told them about Trollish knowledge?”

Blinky laughed nervously, “Oh Vendel, they practically know noth-,”

Jim interjected, eager to please as always, “Blinky taught us troll history and Troll speak and Dad taught me how to use a sword.”

Vendel’s eye ridges rose in amazement, before he shook his head and said firmly, “Enough chatter, we must consult the soothscryer! Now!”

 

“Woahhhh!! Awesome sauce!” Toby shouted as he and Jim got their first look at the heroes forge. Blinky and Aaarrrgghh walked behind the two teens, grinning at each other at their obvious awe.

Jim gazed up in wonder and almost screamed as his foot suddenly didn’t have anything under it.

He felt claws digging into the back of his jumper, tugging him away from the drop.  
He glanced behind him, smiling sheepishly at his dad, who warily pushed him gently in the middle of the bridge, “Be careful, Young Atlas.” He growled.

Toby silently took out his phone and quickly snapped some pictures as they entered the massive arena.

Vendel raised his arms above his head, “Behold the soothscryer! It will judge your worth and see if you are capable of bearing the mantle Trollhunter!” he gestured at the stone troll head that rose out of the floor, it’s red gemstone eyes glaring brightly.

Walter gulped as the blades within the soothscryer whirled threateningly.

“Insert your right hand Trollhunter.” Vendel ordered.

Toby chuckled nervously, “He’ll get it back right?”

Vendel smiled without humour, “That is part of the test.”

Walter took a deep breath in and Aaarrrgghh patted him reassuringly on the back, “Good luck.” The Krubera grunted.

Walter gave the mossy giant a small smile and shaking out his wings stepped in front of the soothscryer.

He couldn’t even see the damn thing properly! He stood on his tip toes, eyes widening when the blades came into view.

“Isn’t there another way to do this? I don’t want to lose my hand!” Walter moaned.

“Quit your nonsense and just do it!” Vendel snapped.

Gulping, Walter shut his eyes and thrust his hand inside, bracing for pain and the loss of a limb.

Instead he felt the gears in the soothscryer clamp down on his hand, causing him to yelp and unbalance, leaving him dangling awkwardly by his arm.

And then the gears reversed and he was flung backwards, crashing into Jim and Toby heavily.

All three of them simultaneously groaned and then quickly untangled themselves from each other, Toby complaining by saying  painfully, “Ow. I think I broke my butt.”

Vendel approached the soothscryer, taking something out from it with a tut of disappointment.

“What is it?” Walter asked anxiously.

Vendel sighed, “The results are inconclusive. There has never been a changeling Trollhunter, let alone one who used to be human. At this point nothing is certain.”

Walter felt his breath get caught in his throat as the elder walked away, his thoughts gloomy and dark as he wondered what kind of path awaited him.

And if he would survive it.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is not going to be updated very strictly, but i hope anyone who reads this comments, as this is my first fan fiction and i would like to know if this is any good.


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